Beautiful Flirtations
by zulija
Summary: A collaboration with ElCapitan18 over at deviantart. A James and Miranda fanfic, featuring a Shenko side paring. Will these oppositions clash like two angry tsunamis? Or will Miranda fall under James' charms and allow him near her? Rated M for a reason.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, so here's the thing. This story takes place in the ME3 universe, after the mission on Mars and Palaven. It starts when Shepard visits Kaidan in the hospital when Miranda sends her an email she wants to see her. That's where we start. Feedback is appreciated of course! And one more thing; this story is co-written with the talented ElCapitan18. You can find her on Deviantart.**

-X-

James Vega usually wasn't the type to complain, especially not to his superior officer. He understood obedience and could appreciate the importance of self-discipline. He liked to believe he was a good soldier, skilled, brave, maybe even a little reckless. He could remember his former Captain telling him, _"There's a thin line between bravery and idiocy."_ He and that line went way back.

Yet, all of the obedience and self-discipline in the world couldn't have stopped him from voicing his outrage; and at his superior officer, the legendary Commander Shepard, no less.

Something had snapped inside of him when she told him they had to leave Earth to gather the galaxy's forces. He couldn't stay silent and be the good, obedient marine, not at that moment; so he yelled and demanded they go back to save whatever could be saved.

Before that, he'd never really understood why people were intimidated by Jane Shepard. He had spent the last six months babysitting the woman, and it was more than enough time for him to realize that his idol was human, nothing less and nothing more.

And then she whipped around to face him, her angry, glaring eyes burning the skin off his bones. Suddenly he understood her intimidation. She roughly jabbed her finger into his chest, almost making him stumble back. That was the first time she'd ever yelled at him, and the first time he let a matter drop so quickly. Now it clicked with him why people feared the Commander. Hell, even the Major fell silent at the sound of her biting tone.

That had been a few days ago, and to say that he was feeling bad was an understatement. He'd had time to cool off, and had thought a lot about apologizing for his informal behavior; but whenever he found the courage to go to the Commander and speak, she would be holed up in in her cabin, going over reports, or discussing some mission related with the crew. It was never the right time and with every hour that passed he felt more and more like crap.

He followed Shepard through the docking area until they parted ways. She had business to attend to, and he had an apology to formulate. Strolling toward the docking bay facing windows, James leaned forward onto the railing and sighed. He'd never been great at apologies; a trait he must have inherited from his absentee father.

Shifting awkwardly, boredom and frustration distracted him from finding the words he'd use to let Shepard know he was sorry. He turned around, leaning his weight back on the railing to watch the people as time passed. He saw her then, the incredibly hot woman standing alone by the door.

_Dios mio_, James found himself gawking at the black haired beauty, and quickly averted his gaze when she caught him staring. She was a sight like he had never seen; not in real life at least, and her unexpected beauty was making him feel uncharacteristically bashful.

Swallowing the nervous lump from his throat, James peered past his brow and tried to get a better look at the woman. He started at her feet, admiring her heeled boots and the extra length they added to her already long legs. And those thighs, that ass. The temperature became unbearably hot as James' appreciative gaze lingered there for a while, taking in the shape and imagining how it might feel in his grasp. Then his eyes traveled up her narrow waist, to her perfect breasts.

_Damn_, James thought and swallowed hard again. He quickly lifted his eyes to study her face. Never had he been more grateful to have a woman not looking at him; both for the fact that it gave him a moment to take in more than what base male instinct filtered, and because he doubted that the superior purse of her lips ever left her face. If she knew the effect she had on him, he knew that she'd draw the sidearm holstered at her waist without any hesitation.

She had pale skin that was so smooth and flawless that it reminded him of the fragile porcelain dolls his _abeula_ used to collect back home. Her eyes were blue, the cold deep kind that warned the dullest of men to keep their distance. And her pitch black hair was long, cascading down her shoulders in glossy raven.

That woman was, James blinked at a loss of words, incredible. To say that she was attractive was an insult against God and nature, he thought with a smile on his face; a smile that immediately vanished when she felt him watching her and locked their gazes.

James was frozen into place by the sub-zero temperature of her glare. Impossibly, he felt as though he was suffering from hyperthermia and hypothermia all at once; the heat of his embarrassment and the chill of her cold blue eyes were combating over who got to kill him first.

Straightening his shoulders, James mustered his courage and forced himself forward. He ignored how her eyes narrowed with every step of his approach, and breathed deeply to keep his stomach from fluttering nervously. After the longest walk of his life, he found himself standing toe to toe with who had to be the most beautiful woman in the galaxy.

"Hi," he started nervously, then almost slapped himself upside the head at the complete idiocy of that opening line. He was James-mother-fuckin'-Vega, and he had moves. Never had he been this intimidated by a woman, not even Commander Shepard could put him in such a speechless state.

Clearing his throat he tried again, "So, I see you're the type of woman who likes something powerful in her grasp." When the woman arched an eyebrow, crossing her arms and jutting her hip to the side, he gestured to the gun holstered at her waist. "Your M-6 Carnifex. I'm more of a M-15 Vindicator kind of guy, myself. The thing's a beast; the kickback alone might break your arms."

Her glare stopped him from following up with a subtle, yet seductive, arm flex. The discrete way her expression changed was enough for him to know that he had said exactly the wrong thing. Her eyebrows pinched ever so slightly, and the corners of her mouth dipped just enough for him to tell that she was unimpressed, and maybe even a little offended. He remembered being better with women than this.

Before he had a chance to redeem himself, or bury himself deeper into a hole he'd never be able to crawl out of, Commander Shepard stepped back into the docking area. She noticed the two standing together and an indiscernible expression cloaked her features.

Descending the few steps to where they were standing, she joined their one sided conversation with a question. "Miranda, what are you doing here?"

"Miranda," James moved his attention from Shepard to the black haired beauty ignoring him. The name suited her; it was beautiful and strong.

Offering the commander a smile Miranda spoke for the first time, and James was immediately enchanted by her accent. "Commander, it's so good to see you."

"You too, Miranda." Shepard returned her smile with one of her own. She glanced at James who was watching their interaction intently. Her smile turned teasing as she said, "I see you've met my lieutenant, James Vega."

"Unfortunately," replied Miranda, her disinterested sneer returning as she gave James a judgemental look. "I believe we were discussing his physical superiority and my inability to handle an assault rifle without breaking my arms."

James scoffed. "_Discussing_ implies a conversation with two participants," he rebutted. The smile he gave Miranda was apologetic. Rubbing the back of his neck he continued, "It was more me making an ass of myself."

"At least we can agree on that," stated Miranda, though the chill of her glare warmed by a degree or two.

Shepard watched the both of them for a moment, the corner of her lips twitching with something James didn't quite recognize before it was gone completely. Addressing James she said, "Vega, if you could please give me and Miss Lawson a moment."

"Sure thing, Commander," James nodded. He gave Miranda a departing smile and reached out his hand to her. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Miss Lawson."

Her eyes remained cold on his. Without saying anything or taking his hand she turned her head back to Shepard. "I couldn't get anywhere near you when the Alliance had you locked up."

It was a clear dismissal. Retracting his hand, James stared at Miranda for a moment longer before sighing in defeat and turning tail for the Normandy. His sense of male pride was more wounded in the aftermath of that woman than it had ever been by all of his past conquests combined. Those cold blue eyes of hers just had a way of tearing down all his bulk and charm and making him feel so tiny she could easily crush him under her heel.

He could hear her and the Commander talking as he left, Miranda's sensuous voice easing into his ears and resonating deep inside of him. James sighed and shook his head. He made a real mess out of that one. _Beautiful_, he glowered, _just beautiful_.

-X-

Stepping out on the docking area, Miranda carefully scoped her surroundings, locating the exits and any possible threats as she waited for the Commander to cross her path. She knew that Shepard was on the Citadel, the Normandy could be seen through the expansive windows.

She was risking much by being at such a public place alone with no one to back her up. Cerberus could jump out of any corner any second and threaten her; but she was always prepared for a fight. Comforted by her favourite M-6 Carnifex holstered at her waist and her ready biotics, she would face whatever was stupid enough to attack her.

Leaning her weight on a hip, Miranda inspected the perimeter again, this time noticing the bulky man in Alliance fatigues staring at her from across the way. With a roll of her eyes, she went back to watching her surroundings. Miranda was used to this kind of attention; having the perfect body, she understood why men (and some women) craved her. Unfortunately for them, she wasn't the type of woman who would pick just anyone. The man across the room could be the most attractive man in the room, but if he had no brains, he could do them both a favor and just leave her alone.

With a sigh she turned her gaze towards the hallway that led to the Huerta Memorial hospital. _Shepard could be visiting the Major now_, she thought knowing that he was recovering from some serious injuries obtained on a mission a few days ago. So she decided to wait for a few more moments before she would take her leave.

Something made her turn her head back and she froze when she spotted the same muscular marine walking towards her. His features were warm with what she guessed was a smirk on his face.

Their eyes locked and with every step he took she became more and more tense. She tried to warn him with her glare, to tell him to stop and ignore her. But instead he ignored her warnings and only stopped when he was toe to toe with her. At this proximity Miranda could clearly see how tall and bulky he actually was.

"Hi," he said, as if greeting an old friend.

She almost raised her eyebrows, but managed to hold her cold expression. Silently she watched as he seemed to fight an inner battle he was destined to lose. Miranda had always prided herself on how easily she could read people, and he was an open book.

Already the man was struggling and Miranda found it highly amusing to see such a tall, masculine man so uncertain and shifting nervously under her cold gaze.

"So, I see you're the type of woman who likes something powerful in her grasp." His comment caught her so completely off guard that she couldn't fight her reaction from reaching her features. She arched an eyebrow and crossed her arms, before he gestured to the gun holstered at her waist.  
"Your M-6 Carnifex. I'm more of a M-15 Vindicator kind of guy, myself. The thing's a beast; the kickback alone might break your arms."

Miranda kept her almost angry expression in place, hoping to scare him off before another word made it out of his mouth. Normally her expression was signal enough that she wasn't impressed, but surprisingly enough he stood his ground.

Honestly, she could almost sense his nervousness and could guess that she had hurt his manly pride, which he desperately tried to hide. Miranda could guess that he was a womanizer; the ease of his approach and how quickly he had turned to insulting her could attest to that.

Before the conversation could take another turn though her attention was swept up by the sound of someone walking down the nearby stairs. She almost sighed in relief when she spotted Shepard. _Finally_, she thought as her friend stopped and joined them, glancing at the heavily muscled man standing with her, before she fixed her gaze on Miranda.

"Miranda, what are you doing here?" asked Shepard while crossing her arms before her chest. She could see the man out of the corner of her eye looking back at her, his expression unfamiliar to her.

"Miranda," the way he said her name made her flinch slightly. His tone was almost adoring, and it made her chest tighten with an emotion she couldn't identify.

Tearing her attention away from him, she quickly offered Shepard a smile before she spoke. "Commander, it's so good to see you."

"You too, Miranda," Shepard glanced from her to the man before settling back on her. Miranda didn't miss the slight smirk on Shepard's face as she spoke, "I see you've met my lieutenant, James Vega."

_James_, she almost repeated aloud. It was a good name, a strong name. Setting her jaw, she allowed her eyes to narrow before glancing at the marine.

"Unfortunately," replied Miranda, her disinterested sneer returning as she gave James a judgemental look once over. "I believe we were discussing his physical superiority and my inability to handle an assault rifle without breaking my arms."

James scoffed and admitted after a moment that he was making an ass of himself. That made the corners of her lips twitch into a smile she didn't allow to appear. "At least we can agree on that."

There was something changing on his face, something that Miranda guessed was a smirk, again. _Yes, definitely a smirk_, she thought, somehow finding it harder and harder not to smile. That simper showed her that he wasn't offended by her observation; far from it. It seemed to her that he had a sense of humor that wouldn't allow his manly pride to be hurt so easily.

"Vega, if you could give me and Miss Lawson a moment."

James nodded, "Sure thing, Commander." He gave Miranda a departing smile and reached out his hand to her. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Miss Lawson."

She kept her cold gaze on him, fighting back the urge to take his hand and feel if he was as warm as he looked. Instead she raised her chin, implying that she was unimpressed by his behavior, and hoping to dissuade him from ever flirting with her again. There was something in his eyes though, something that showed her the raw determination of a marine that wouldn't give up that easily.

Miranda could guess that he'd probably never experienced such a rejection before. But the stubborn set to his brown eyes made her afraid that this wasn't going to be the last time that she saw him.

Letting out a sigh of defeat, he finally turned around and strode towards the Normandy. Once he was out of earshot, Miranda turned to Shepard in time to catch the smirk on her face; a smirk that Miranda decided to ignore, for now.

"Before I say anything...Shepard, where do you pick up these people?"

Shepard let out a laugh before she shifted slightly. Miranda could sense her amusement and it made her slightly angry.

Waving off Miranda's glare, the Commander explained, "You can't be mad at James, he doesn't mean it. He's just flirting for fun."

_For fun_, she thought with a pout. He thought it was fun to mess with her head and play with her emotions? He had another thing coming. "Whatever the matter, he should leave it be. The first thing you talk to a woman about should not be how she's weak and defenceless. The man said that _I_ was incapable of wielding an assault rifle. _Me_, the nerve of him."

Shepard's smirk never left her lips, which Miranda found more and more annoying. "The next time I see him I'll let him know that you are Miranda Lawson, and assault rifles aren't the biggest, most powerful thing you can handle. Far from it," she assured her, her smirk growing into a grin.

Miranda approved of that with a smile of her own before she gestured for Shepard to follow her where she was sure no one could eavesdrop.


	2. Chapter 2

Even as he stepped onto the familiar metallic flooring of the cargo hold, James still felt as though he were burning alive under the heat of his embarrassment. Now he had to apologize to both Shepard and to Miranda.

_Miranda_...he could still hear her voice with that sexy accent in his mind, still see her flawless, pale skin that seemed to glow in the the Citadel's unnatural daylight. He tried not to think about her. Instead he tried again to word a proper apology for Shepard. His focus was fleeting. No matter how much he forced his mind to think about something else, his thoughts always seemed to return to Miranda.

"Miranda," he whispered her name to himself in the rare emptiness of the cargo hold. James just wanted to feel her name in his mouth, imagining the gorgeous woman it belonged to. Her name was feminine, strong, yet he found a sweetness in it that made his chest tighten with an unfamiliar feeling.

Sighing, he realized that thinking about her would only make him more antsy. James removed his shirt and did what he always did when he had too much pent up emotion. He was going to work out until all he could think about was the pain of his sore muscles.

He shivered as his warm skin was met with the coldness of the cargo hold, raising goose bumps all over his exposed torso; reminding him of a similar feeling when her cold gaze met his warm eyes. He smirked at the recollection of the coldness in them scaring him, while also being incredibly sensual.

Something he saw in them pulled him to her. There was obvious danger in those cold blue depths, but it wasn't enough to suppress the other part of his mind that he was trying desperately to fight even now. He tried to blink back the visual of her glowing skin under his rough hands, the taste of her lips and if they might feel as soft as they looked.

Shaking the images from his mind he tucked an arm at his back, forcing himself through a more strenuous workout in attempt to occupy his mind. His dog tags clashed with the floor whenever he went down, his muscles rippling with the effort. Fixing his gaze on the floor, James completely shut out his surroundings and allowed an emptiness to settle in his mind.

He found the perfect balance of exertion and pain to keep his mind from wandering. Soon all he could hear was his own breathing and his heartbeat racing with his effort. James focused on the floor only for blue eyes to slowly appear in front of him, piercing right into his soul, disregarding his defenses.

Then his mind's eye supplied him with the image of the rest of her face, until all he could see was her. Her features were relaxed and warm, her eyes shining with what he guessed was lust. She was writhing underneath him, her lower lip between her teeth and her low moans breathing across his skin as she brought her mouth to his shoulder and-

"James," he almost fell flat on his face when he heard Shepard calling his name, effectively breaking him from his daydreams. James stood up quickly and wiped the sweat from his brow with the crook of his also sweaty arm. When he looked up he saw her staring at him with a smirk on her face. He forced his face to return the expression, pushing the thoughts of Miranda far, far away.

"Commander," he took his shirt from the floor and put it back on before giving her his undivided attention. "You came here for the show?" he teased, Shepard just rolled her eyes.

"I came here to talk, but I think I might stay for the show." James stretched his neck muscles from side to side, feeling the tension leaving them for a bit. Then he turned around to face her, the smirk still plastered on both their faces.

"Think you can dance and talk at the same time?" he expected her expression to change, or that she would be offended and yell at him for his informal behavior, again. Instead she just smirked and nodded sharply once before turning towards the middle of the floor.

"Oh I can dance," she said while lifting her hands and taking in a fighting position. James found himself almost grinning because of her reaction; he should have already guessed that Commander Shepard was the most awesome woman in the galaxy.

Their sparring started and he received a few well placed punches while he told her about his former CO, Captain Toni. He told her of Fehl Prime, how he decided to retrieve the Intel about the Collector's, abandoning the entire colony in the process. She assured him that he did the right thing, that she would have done the same; that admission made the guilt a little easier to bear.

The Commander surprised him by flipping him onto his back, knocking the air out of James' lungs. Giving him a pointed and authoritative look, she warned him that he shouldn't pull any crazy stunts while he's under her watch, and again he could hear and see why people were afraid of her. He wiped the blood from his nose and let out a sharp breath, "Thanks for the pep talk."

She leaned her hand on her waist, smirk decorating her face, "Anytime."

He smiled, _she is really awesome_, he thought. "Hey, thanks for the dance, Lola."

She smiled and crossed her arms over her chest, "Lola, huh?" She quirked one of her dark red eyebrows.

James shrugged his shoulders innocently but his smirk remained, "You kinda look like a Lola."

She smiled and threw her head slightly back, laughing lightly before looking back at him. "You're cute, so I let it slide. Not that I would do anything to make Miranda jealous."

James was taken aback by her comment, the color drained from his face. For a second he let his surprise show on his features before he regained his composure. "I- I don't know what the hell you're talking about."

Her eyebrow arched again, the purse of her lips letting him know that she wasn't fooled. Shepard laughed lightly again as she approached him, "Come on Vega, I saw how you practically undressed her with your eyes. Don't worry, my lips are sealed." she winked and drew her fingers across her lips as if doing up a zipper.

James blinked twice, his mouth hanging slightly open as he felt his cheeks burning with an embarrassment that was becoming unpleasantly familiar to him. "Uhm...sure...whatever."

Looking away from the Commander's knowing gaze, James scratched the back of his neck. When had he become this giggling, blushing little girl? He had game, for God's sake. He was fluent in the language of love. Except when it came to Miranda, it seemed. How was it that one woman could make him feel so embarrassed when she wasn't even there with him?

Shepard laughed lightly at his expense, reminding him again of his childhood crush. Muttering some excuse about talking to Cortez before hitting the shower, she turned to leave the room; leaving James to stand there for a moment longer. He was starting to truly realize how big of a fool he'd made of himself by staring so obviously at Miranda. He used to have tact. What was happening to him?

He dragged a hand over his face, suddenly tired from the days events, and decided to have a hot shower himself. Walking over to his workstation, he picked up some fresh clothes before he made his way to the men's restroom on crew deck.

Sighing, James welcomed the pleasant sting of hot water flowing down his shoulders and back. With so few distractions to keep his mind preoccupied, thoughts of Miranda returned to him; just like he knew they would. He knew nothing about her, other than she could kill a man from frostbite with a look alone, while also being hot enough to burn her image into the back of his eyelids. And, some men would argue that it was all that he needed to know; but it wasn't. The woman piqued his interest in a way no woman had managed to do in a very long time; since he joined the military, if he remembered correctly.

When he was showered, dried, and dressed, his stomach made a growling sound, reminding him of the hours that had passed since the last time he'd eaten. Making his way to the mess he spotted Garrus also picking up food and joined him in line.

"Hey Scars," said James in greeting as he shoveled some slop onto his plate, grabbed something to drink, and followed Garrus to one of the few available tables. He put his food down on the table opposite of Garrus, smiling softly at the turian as he took his seat.

"I heard that you challenged Shepard to a dance and got your ass handed to you," commented Garrus, an amused note to his tone.

James brought a forkful of dinner to his mouth and took a bite before asking, "Already? Damn, word travels fast."

"Small ship," Garrus said by way of explanation. "Next time ask me before doing something stupid. Shepard doesn't back down from a challenge, and she hardly ever loses. If you'd come to me you would have known that. You might actually learn something from good ol' Garrus."

"As if good ol' Garrus had something to teach me," James replied with a teasing grin.

"When it comes to her I do, after all I did follow Shepard from one suicide mission to another. Mind you, not always because I wanted to." Garrus shook his head and chuckled at a vault of memories that James didn't share. "But you know Shepard. She can be pretty persuasive."

"Yeah, she can persuade you into doing just about anything." Garrus nodded in agreement and James smiled as he worked his way through the rest of his plate. "You've been with her from the beginning." He paused as an idea started to take shape in his mind. If there was one way to find out any kind of information about Miranda, this was it. "And you stopped the Collector's with her."

"Yeah that was a hell of a time," started Garrus, reminiscing about the 'old days', "Everyone thought Shepard was dead. Then two years later she appears out of nowhere. I always knew Shepard was tough, but to cheat death...that's big, even for her."

James chewed his food as he came up with another question that would lead him to the topic he was actually interested in. "Cerberus brought her back, right? And they gave her resources to stop the Collector's?"

Garrus' mandibles twitched and James wondered if he upset him in some way. James could barely tell one turian from another, let alone read their expressions. Flaring his mandibles once more, Garrus finally answered the question.

"She did what she had to," Garrus started while leaning his elbows on the table, "She found the only ally in a terrorist organization led by a mad man. She didn't work 'for' Cerberus; she used them simply to stop the Collector's, that's it."

James raised his hands in surrender. "I never said anything against her, Scars. Hell, I would've probably done the same if- you know, I cheated death and had to seek out an ally when everyone turned their backs on me." James took a deep breath and pushed his investigation further. "Who led the experiment?"

"Operative Lawson," said Liara as she joined them at the table. "Oh, wait, it's Miss Lawson now. She quit Cerberus after Shepard destroyed the Collector's base."

"Evening, Liara," Garrus greeted the asari with what James assumed was a smile.

"Evening, gentlemen." Nodding at the turian Liara offered them both a warm smile as she settled into her seat and started poking at her plate, more interested in their conversation than in eating her food. "The Lazarus Project probably would have been a failure if not for her."

_Smart and good looking_, James observed to himself; as if he needed any more justification to call her the perfect woman. Returning his attention to Garrus, he wondered, "What was she like?"

Garrus made a pfft sound before answering with a shrug. "She's Miranda; she gets the job done, and she gets it done right. The Cerberus crew respected and feared her, and after a while so did Shepard's crew."

James could guess the answer to his question before he even asked it. "Why would they fear her?"

A deep rumbling chuckle sounded from Garrus then. "I don't know if you've met Miranda, but she has this look-" James knew exactly the look he was talking about. "I cannot tell you how many times Shepard has gotten that look."

As Garrus laughed at the recollection, Liara tried to explain further. "Miss Lawson is a very unique and powerful woman. She's received the most extensive weapons and combat training, and has an impressive control over her biotics. Combine that with her top level education and you have a woman that could destroy an opponent physically, mentally, and emotionally."

"All women can do that," commented Garrus, taking another bite from his plate with a snicker. "Miranda can just do it better and faster." A beeping sound came from the turian's omni-tool and as he dismissed the alarm, he explained, "Look's like the glue has set on my terminal. Now I can finally get back to my calibrations."

They said their goodbyes as Garrus gathered his dishes and brought them to the sink. When the turian was well out of hearing distance, Liara leaned in close to the table and gave James a knowing look.

"So, why all the interest in Miss Lawson?" she wondered, her big blue eyes saw right through him. James knew he couldn't hide this secret from Liara, not that he'd been doing a very good job to begin with.

Sighing, James picked at what little food remained on his plate and tried to play it cool. "I just wanted to know about the Cerberus crew," he explained with a shrug, hoping to throw her off of his trail. "They're the enemy again; but Shepard knew them when they were the good guys."

"Jacob Taylor was also part of her crew, so was Kelly Chambers, and an amusing man by the name of Rupert." Liara pointed out, resting her elbows on the table and perching her chin on a fist. The knowing look she'd given James remained on her features as she stared at him. "There were many members of the Cerberus crew, yet your focus has remained on Miranda."

He was caught and he knew it. Still James tried to deny it, "No, I was just...uh, I was getting to them."

_Mhm_, Liara hummed, not taking the bait. "I am the Shadow Broker, you know?" Smiling, she picked her dishes off of the table and gestured for James to follow her.

James watched her go for a second, caught between fleeing the conversation and pursuing his curiosity. After his second was up he got out of his seat and followed Liara to the kitchen where they dropped off their dishes before going to her room.

When the doors parted, revealing Liara's set up, James let out a whistle. "Must be nice being the Shadow Broker," he said as he strode towards one of the many terminal screens.

"It has it's perks," Liara replied with a small smile. She walked towards another terminal and fiddled with the screen. She worked quietly for a minute, concentrated on her task, before pulling a datapad from her desk and flicking over the screen. When she was finished she returned her attention to James and smiled at him again, bigger this time.

"One of the perks I mentioned is my unlimited database." Liara walked over to James and held the datapad out between them. As he reached out for it, she explained. "When I first became Shadow Broker I found information about Shepard's crew that my predecessor had left behind. That is Miranda's dosier."

Surprised, James gave Liara a stunned look before looking through the datapad she had provided. While he buried his nose in the information, Liara continued, "I've taken the liberty of filtering out her more personal information." To the disappointed look he gave her, she said, "There are some things she should tell you herself."

That was fair enough. The datapad in his hand suddenly felt like the most precious thing he owned. Inside it was almost everything he wanted to know about the woman he couldn't get out of his head. He ran a reverent finger along the datapad's edge before looking up to meet Liara's big blue gaze.

At a loss of words, he scavenged up what little he could. "Thanks, Liara."

The smile that inched across her lips was friendly, "It's my pleasure, James."

-X-

When she was finally sure that nobody was following her, Miranda decided to head to the room she rented under a false name. She needed the room to have a place to return to when everything started to be too much. It wasn't as luxurious as she was used to, but it would have to do for the moment; at least until Cerberus wasn't hunting her anymore.

Giving the hallway a final look, Miranda punched in the passcode and entered the unremarkable, but adequate, room. She set the food filled bag on the small kitchen counter before making her way over to the desk.

Miranda sat down with a sigh and leaned back into the chair, feeling the exhaustion, tension and paranoia she'd felt throughout the entire day finally leaving her little by little. She shut her tired eyes for a moment, taking the time to rest and gather her thoughts.

It had been nice to see Shepard again for the short time they'd gotten to talk; she had been a good friend and Miranda didn't have many of those. None, actually, she realized with a frown. At least she could take some comfort in the knowledge that she could always ask Shepard for anything.

In a flash her thoughts moved on from the commander, until all she could see was a pair of warm brown eyes staring at her. Her eyes flew open and she sat up, feeling her chest tighten again with this unknown emotion. A smile crept across her face when she remembered how her harsh words hadn't crumbled his confidence like it always did with lesser men. Far from it. It seemed to her that it only fueled something in him, and that piqued her interest.

Combing her fingers through her hair, Miranda pulled the long locks into a ponytail before she opened her terminal and used Shepard's ID to hack into the Alliance system. She picked through the familiar database, determined to find only one file. Once she found it Miranda hesitated for only a second before she clicked on the document, and James Vega's dossier appeared on the screen.

The file read that his mother had died before he joined the Alliance in 2176. Her heart tightened at the pain that loss had probably caused him. She read little bits of his life, how he lost his entire unit on Fehl Prime because of a Collector attack; Miranda tightened her jaw, a Collector attack that Cerberus had orchestrated.

She opened another window and searched for files about his father, Joshua Sanders, mostly out of curiosity as to why he'd changed his surname. Then she read the story and understood, unable to stop the anger that surfaced with the knowledge. His father had decided to sacrifice him, and had almost succeeded, only so he could continue with his dirty jobs.

At least they had one thing in common; both their father's were incredibly selfish and they were ready to use their own children for their own success. She sighed and, after reading through the rest of his file, she closed it. Miranda now knew the lieutenant's background and military record, but she still didn't know James Vega; the man behind the tough facade. Or was it any facade at all?

She rubbed her tired eyes, wondering why she was even interested. He was at least two years younger than her, plus he seemed rude and brash, and too flirty.

Yet, try though she might, there was something in that young man that lured her in, something she couldn't figure out. Maybe it was because of his young and honest demeanor; maybe she needed that type of man to show her that not everything was black and white. Maybe she needed someone who was relaxed and flirty, and who would remind her what it felt like to be alive.

Shaking her head, she banished the thoughts of him and opened the extra-net, deciding to try to reach Oriana. It had been several days since Miranda had spoken to her sister; the longest they'd ever gone without speaking. So it was to her surprise when she had to wait for only a minute before her sister answered the call. The black screen lightened and a younger, happier version of Miranda appeared on the screen. A relieved smile ran across Miranda's lips at the sight of her sister before she allowed her irritation to dampen her mood.

"_Miri_," Oriana's chipper tone was comfort enough to pull Miranda through the toughest of days. She glanced at the time before she grinned up at Miranda, "_You're five minutes late calling me. I was starting to get worried._"

"So you have been receiving my calls," Miranda observed, her annoyance growing. "And not once did you think to call me back?"

Oriana gave her an apologetic frown. _"I'm sorry, Miri. But I've been busy with school and stuff; finals are coming up and I've been riding a table at the library everyday until it closes._" Her frown changed into a soft smile, the kind Oriana knew even Miranda would fall victim to. "_I might as well be living there._"

She felt her anger give way to understanding despite herself. Miranda said, "You still should have at least called me back and let me know you were safe," before allowing the matter to drop completely.

"_I know, and I'm sorry._" Oriana confessed. After a second of silence she asked, _"Is_ _everything_ _okay_, _Miri_? _You_ _look_ _tired_. _Is keeping an eye on me finally wearing you down?_" She gave Miranda a smirk.

Miranda returned her sister's smile, knowing that Oriana was teasing her. Miranda always called at the same time everyday, without fail. She liked routine and organization, and Oriana liked to take advantage of anything to poke fun of her sister.

Brushing the stray hairs from her face, Miranda explained, "I got caught up reading some documents and lost track of time." She allowed a reassuring smile to curl the corners of her lips. "No need to worry."

"I'v_e tried using that one on you before_," Oriana reminded her of almost all of their previous conversations. "_And what's your typical reply? Something like 'you're my sister, it's my job to worry', it works both ways, dear sister_."

The difference was that she was the _big_ sister. Miranda huffed in disagreement but didn't voice an argument; instead she decided to change the subject. "How go your studies?"

The smile that Oriana gave her showed that she knew that Miranda had purposefully changed the topic. "_They're going well, though I'm sure you already knew that_."

"I did," Miranda smiled, not bothering to deny it.

"_You know,_" Oriana shook her head at her sister's shameless tone. "_You keeping tabs on me takes the fun out of me telling you about my day; especially since you already know it_ _all_."

"I don't know everything," Miranda tried to argue.

Oriana quirked a challenging eyebrow. "_The last time I got an average grade on a quiz you found out before I did; and then you freaked out about it._"

"Average scores are beneath you," Miranda replied indignantly. To the playfully agitated expression Oriana was giving her, she said, "Just because I keep a close eye on you doesn't mean that I know everything. It just means that I care about you, and that I want you to be safe."

"_Yeah, yeah,_" Oriana rolled her eyes a laughed. "_As long as you don't call and scare any more of my professors, I guess I can live with your snooping."_

Miranda grinned at her. "You say that like you have a choice in the matter, _dear_ _sister_."

"_Oh, ho, ho; I guess you got me there_." Oriana returned her smile with a careless one of her own. "_Just do me a favor._"

"Anything for you."

Her grin grew. "_Next time that you have your guys follow me, tell them to not be so obvious about it._"

Miranda's smile vanished. _Her guys? _Before she could command her sister to give her all of the details about these men following her, an alarm sounded from Miranda's terminal; and from her omni-tool, and from her secured work station as well.

A concerned expression tightened Oriana's features. "_What's going on, Miri_?"

Not wanting to alarm her sister, Miranda lied. "I'm late for an appointment." She stood from her seat and leaned forward on the table, hurrying to finish the call. "I have to go. Call you tomorrow?"

"_Don't you always_?" Oriana teased without a trace of humor in her tone. Her expression was still one of concern. "_Are you sure everything's alright?_"

"Yes," was Miranda's curt reply. "I have to go. Love you. Bye." She ended the call and rushed to the secure workstation, hoping that it was just a false alarm. Unlocking the screen, her features tensed with irritation and distress.

It wasn't a false alarm. Miranda rushed to the drawers where she had unpacked some of her belongings. Throwing the clothes into her open duffle, she then collected her gurns; checking her ammo before holstering the Carnifex at her hip. Miranda was always ready to go a moment's notice and this was why.

Cerberus had tripped the security perimeter she had set up. They hadn't found her exact location yet, but it was only a matter of time before they kicked down her door, guns blazing and out for blood.

-X-

**Feedback is appreciated, of course :-)**


	3. Chapter 3

She could feel her heart beating against her ear drums as she hurried through the crowd. Miranda had been careful, covered her tracks, and laid low; and still Cerberus had found her. She shouldn't have been surprised, and deep down she wasn't; if anything she was annoyed. Looking over her shoulder, she adjusted the strap to the duffel bag slung across her torso, and wove through the bodies of unsuspecting civilians.

Miranda had changed her clothing before abandoning the room she'd been holed up in, it was a necessary precaution. She knew that Cerberus was near, but she didn't know who or where they were exactly. The casual fit of her jeans, and the faded red sweater covering her white tank top was a style she typically stayed away from. But the unremarkable attire, and the cap she wore low to cover her face, made her as unremarkable as her clothing; hopefully no one would recognize her through the guise.

Rushing into an elevator, she pressed the button to her desired floor and held it down until the doors slid shut. She backed into the wall, pinning the duffle between her and the elevator as she leaned her weight against it. Rubbing the tension from her eyes, Miranda leveled her breathing and took advantage of the slow moving elevator while simultaneously cursing the casual rate with which it moved.

Cerberus wanted her dead, and she didn't have any time to waste twiddling her thumbs in an elevator. She was heading fast to the one and only Barla Von, hoping he would be able to point her in the direction of someone who could get her off the station without a fuss or leaving behind any kind of trail. If he couldn't help her, then Miranda was in a much more dire situation than she wanted to consider.

The elevator doors parted with a ding. Glancing out from underneath her cap she carefully stepped free from the metallic box and into another crowd. Her steps were measured and her careless stride was forced. Miranda needed to draw as little attention as possible, while also hurrying to meet with the well informed volus. Side stepping a slow moving couple, Miranda shouldered past a salarian who spun from the force of her pace.

"Hey, watch it," he shouted as she passed him, drawing the attention of a few people passing by.

Miranda ignored the salarian and pressed forward, not daring to stray from her path to voice an apology. She noticed that the interaction had drawn the attention of some people around her, as she tried to ignore the displeased looks she spotted two men, probably Cerberus assassins, who had been scanning the perimeter but stopped to watch as the salarian glared at her back.

She quickly lowered her head and hid her face as best she could behind the cap while blending in with the crowd. Her steps were determined and fast, and only a few more steps remained until she reached Barla Von. Then someone placed a hand on her shoulder.

Her reaction was immediate; with her body tensed and her eyes narrowed she freed her Carnifex from it's holster, whipped around and pointed it at the unknown person who dared to touch her.

-X-

James flicked through the terminal's inventory, uncertain if what he was looking at was an effective mod. Sighing, he leaned his weight against Aegohr Munitions' counter and continued to browse their wares. He was stuck between getting a Scorpion or just a regular pistol scope.

He combed his fingers through his hair, feeling ridiculous for even standing there. Pistols weren't even his weapon of choice. He liked things with bulk, heavy hitters; he liked his weapons to reflect himself, and pistols were too lightweight. Sure they could do some damage but they were too sleek and elegant. They reminded him of a woman who he still couldn't get out of his head.

They were finally back on the Citadel, freed up for a few hours while Shepard handled some business. It wouldn't be long before everyone was rounded back onto the Normandy and James had decided to spend that free time looking at pistols. _Pistols_, for christ's sake. He didn't even like pistols. But he liked Miranda, and she liked pistols, and apparently that was enough for him to stand in the Presidium Commons like some sort of love drunk idiot. He might as well be picking out an engagement ring.

Shaking his head, James pushed himself off of the counter and took a step back from the kiosk. What was happening to him? He dragged a hand down his face and groaned, fighting with the part of himself that wanted to just buy the Scorpion and send it to Miranda. James steeled his resolve, rolling his shoulders and straightening his spine. He was a man, it was time to act like one.

James turned around, ready to walk away from the kiosk before he gave in and bought something, but something caught his attention, slowing him in his tracks.

"Hey," an irate salarian voice barked, "watch it."

A second later a familiar tension filled the air, crackling the atmosphere with an electric spark that he knew very well. It was a similar feeling to the one he felt before stepping out of the shuttle with Shepard and onto the battlefield.

"Everybody get down!" James shouted as he released his sidearm from its holster.

-X-

"_Everybody_ _get_ _down_!" Someone shouted in the distance, and time slowed.

The man's expression darkened as he turned her around and their eyes locked. Miranda knew what that look meant. Without giving him the chance to pull out his own gun, she raised the Carnifex and shot him right between the eyes. The man collapsed in a heap onto the floor, and the crowd started running around, screaming in panic.

Cursing, she pulled the strap of her duffle over her head, accidentally knocking off her cap, and ran to the nearest cover; dodging the shots fired at her from behind. As she threw herself behind a potted plant, she slammed one of the Cerberus assassin's into the wall and shot him three times before he dropped dead.

Miranda sucked in a steadying breath as she concentrated on locating all of her enemies. They were shooting at her from every corner, making it difficult for her to guess exactly how many were after her. She glanced out of cover but hid behind it quickly before they could land a shot.

When she exposed herself again, Miranda unleashed a string of curses that could rival even Jack. A Phantom was cutting in her direction, her tactical cloak flickering as she slashed the distance between her and where Miranda was hiding. She checked how many thermal clips she had left and set her jaw when she realized it wasn't enough.

Tightening her fist, Miranda summoned her biotics and rolled out of cover just as the Phantom leaped over the potted plant, her sharp sword ringing as it slashed through the space Miranda had just been crouched. Warping the Phantom's defenses, Miranda shot at the Cerberus assassin. A snarl curled her lips when her shots fired were a fraction of a second too slow to make their mark and shoot the Phantom down before she reached her.

She gritted her teeth, unleashing a reave on the Phantom in hopes to cause some damage while the Phantom was trickily avoiding Miranda's shots. When the Phantom arrogantly threw herself in Miranda's direction, Miranda leaned out of the sword's path, brought her Carnifex under the Phantom's chin and pulled the trigger.

She didn't wait to watch as the Phantom fell lifelessly at her feet. Miranda was already moving, avoiding the gunfire as she used what was left of her ammunition to keep the Cerberus forces back. She started depending heavily on her biotics when she only had two thermal clips left.

One by one the assassins fell; but it wasn't just Miranda who was killing them. At some point or another C-Sec had joined her firefight. When she glanced around the corner it wasn't a C-Sec officer she saw; her eyes widened in surprise for a second as she recognized lieutenant James Vega. He was also dressed in casual clothes, which meant he must've been around.

For a second she couldn't help the smile that appeared on her face. After the last Cerberus assassin fell she schooled her expression back to it's typical detached and cool set before she glanced out of cover to make sure the coast was clear.

Silence settled in the Presidium Commons for a second before C-Sec moved to collect and identify the bodies. Miranda allowed herself to relax and stepped out of cover, only to see James walking towards her. There was a wide smile plastered on his face and she rolled her eyes at the sight of it, hiding her smile as he came close. Miranda wouldn't give him the pleasure of seeing her smile because of him, even if it was all she could do to keep her lips from stretching. Her heart beat faster as he closed the distance between them.

-X-

James couldn't stop grinning like an idiot as he made his way to where Miranda was standing, even as he saw her cold and neutral expression. They'd just killed Cerberus assassins who tried to kill her, and he was smiling. What was wrong with him? _Okay, now it's time to stop smiling before she points that gun on you_, James thought as he almost reached her, feeling a mixture of happiness and excitement in seeing her again.

When he was finally standing in front of her, James took the moment to revel in the sight Miranda. She was wearing casual clothes; the red sweater was a size or two too large and it hung a little from her left shoulder, revealing the strap of the white tank top and black bra she wore underneath. His mouth became immensely dry at the mental image of her wearing only the bra. _It has to be a lace bra_, James thought, convinced that a woman like her had a taste for beautiful and extravagant things. Sexy, yet lethal, James found he liked that combination more and more. The sweater hid her perfect curves but to James that didn't matter; he'd already seen her in the skin tight, Cerberus outfit. There was barely anything left to imagine after he saw her in it.

Her light blue jeans were form fitting, and again the sight left his mouth dry. His eyes traveled back up until they finally rested back on her face, smirking to the thought that no one looked as hot in casual clothes as she did. His smiled faded a bit, replaced by something slightly more lustful as he caught her eyes flickering over him; glancing quickly at his attire before bringing them back on his. James smirked. He knew she liked what she saw, even if she tried to hide it with her cold demeanor.

"Miranda," when he spoke his voice was low, maybe a little too intimate for what had just happened, but James couldn't bring himself to care. He was a man, a player, and he was going to act like one. "A pleasure to see you again."

"The feeling isn't mutual," she said in her frosty tone, crossing her arms in front of her chest as she visibly tried to retain her usual cold mein. Her response made the smile on his face grow.

"Don't tell me that you aren't even a little bit glad to see me?" There was a slight shift in her expression and, for a second, he could see uncertainty in her blue eyes and that made him wonder if that was her way of blushing. James was determined to find out.

"I could've handled them myself." Her eyes narrowed and her lip curled with distaste. "There was no need to rush in here and play the hero," she said hoping to change the subject, and James felt her pointed words bite into his skin with their sharp teeth; as she had intended them to.

"I know," he said, also crossing his arms in front of his chest. He wouldn't let her try to scare him off. Keeping his playful smirk from faltering, he said, "That's why I saved most of the clips and watched you do your thing instead. Your biotics are damn impressive."

Miranda leaned her hand on her hip, not allowing her grin to surface on her features at his compliment. "I know."

_Well she certainly doesn't lack for confidence_, thought James, amused by their little banter. Miranda watched him quietly for a moment, probably knowing that he wouldn't let the conversation go. Her jaw set with reproach as she tried again to make him back off.

"This conversation is pointless, and I still have some business to attend to. So if you'll stop wasting my time," she emphasized the last part with bitterness and tried to shove past him to collect her discarded duffle so she could leave, but James followed her steps, determined not to let her go that easily.

_She'll have to throw me with her biotics if she wants me to give up, _James thought and his smirk widened, even then he doubted he'd quit pursuing her. He was determined to stay with her, maybe even talk her into a drink. He kicked himself mentally at that thought; _She just fought for her life and you're going to ask her out for a drink?_ James didn't know what was wrong with him.

"Let me guess; these weren't all of the operatives sent to kill you, so you're going to kill them before they can report back to the Illusive Man?" Miranda stopped dead in her tracks and he smiled victoriously; an expression he quickly wiped away as she whipped around to face him, the annoyance clearly written on her face. Not that he gave a damn, James was already getting used to that look.

"Yes, exactly," Miranda bit out. "So if you would just go and prepare for the next mission; I believe you have a female krogan to escort to Tuchanka." The dismissal was final and she turned quickly, her shoulders tense as if she expected him to argue.

James' eyes widened for a second, impressed with her resources to come up with that information. They just docked on the Citadel about an hour ago and she already knew where they were and what they had on the ship? James smirked again as he caught up with her.

"Actually, the female krogan is sleeping right now. And according to Wrex, krogan need a _lot_ of sleep. Besides, Shepard has to visit the Major, so..." He swiped her duffle up off of the floor before she could bend down for it. As he hoisted the heavy bag over his shoulder, he said, "It looks like I'm free for a little while."

"Lucky me," she growled.

They both approached the terminal and waited there for the elevator to arrive. James could tell that Miranda was pissed at him for following her. He just hoped that there was some part of her that couldn't ignore his flirting; even if she fought it.

James couldn't stop staring at her back. Even covered by the too large sweater, her body was attention grabbing. His gaze travelled down her back until it stopped to rest on her wonderfully shaped rear. She was so close. All he needed to do was lift his hand a little and he'd be touching her. But the consequences were just too severe.

He mused about the things she would do to him if he touched her ass. _Would she just shoot me in the face, quick and painless; or slowly kill me with her biotics?_ James wondered and the ding of the elevator brought him back to reality. He lifted his gaze before she could catch him staring, after all Shepard still needed him at a hundred percent.

Miranda strode into the elevator as the doors parted and James was close behind her, just to be safe she didn't try to shut him out. As he settled in beside her she pushed the button where she believed were the other Cerberus operatives waiting for her. They couldn't report to the Illusive Man that quickly, but they could let the others know where she was. Her gaze was on the C-Sec officers still cleaning up the mess as the doors shut them in the tight space together.

-X-

Miranda glared at the shut elevator doors and tried to ignore the rising temperature between them in the claustrophobic space. She could hear him fiddling with something next to her but kept her attention forward, refusing to give in to her desire to look back at him, not obviously at least. But her curiosity took the better of her and she peeked at James from the corner of her eye, noticing him holding out his M-5 Phalanx to her.

"Here," he said, taking out the second M-5 Phalanx holstered at his back. Arching an eyebrow, she wondered, _He carries two guns? _and lifted her chin to keep up her uninterested appearance.

When she didn't immediately accept his offered gun, James explained, "I noticed you ran out of clips."

She flicked her gaze down to the gun in his hands then back to his eyes. Her gaze narrowed somewhat in annoyance, although she struggled with the part of her that almost melted at the fact that he had been paying such close attention to her. "Why should I use your gun instead of just taking the thermal clips and putting them in my Carnifex?"

James locked their gazes and smirked for the hundredth time. "Because I'm sure you can handle much bigger things than assault rifles and heavy pistols."

Their eyes remained imprisoned to one another, and for a moment Miranda allowed herself to look back into his, really looking this time. She noticed that his warm brown eyes had a hint of a foresty green color, and found their invigorating hazel depths to be very relaxing and honest. Miranda had a feeling that just gazing into his eyes could make her forget about the troubles of her life, the depressions she fought during night. They were calming her and making her chest tighten with this unknown emotion that was like a disease she couldn't get rid of; and that realization scared her a little.

When she noticed that they were staring at one another for longer than was acceptable, she decided to prove to him she really could handle bigger things without much struggle. Miranda placed her hand on the M-5 Phalanx, and their fingers touched. Her heart skipped a beat at the feel of his rough, too warm fingers under hers and snatched the weapon away from him. She quickly turned to face the elevator door, desperately hoping he hadn't caught her flinching.

-X-

James gazed deep into the pale blue orbs that seemed to freeze whoever would dare staring into them for too long. He could still hear and feel his heartbeat, despite her frigid, sexy eyes staring back into his. Never had someone's eyes had such impact on him like hers. Miranda's eyes were different from the many girls he had ever been with. _She_ was different.

James would've been blind if he didn't catch how she flinched away from his touch; how she snatched her fingers away the second their skin made contact. He felt his heart quickening when he felt her soft, cold fingers brushing gently above his and wondered if she was always that cold. His mind then tortured him with images of a warm Miranda, writhing above him while he raised the temperature of her core until she exploded from overheating.

Swallowing hard, he willed his mind away from those images as he desperately tried to convince himself that it was the elevator's faulty ventilation that was causing it to be so damn hot in here. He glanced at the tiny panel beside her and saw they were almost there.

Readying his pistol with a smirk, he said, "Make them count," and motioned to the number of thermal clips they have left.

Miranda narrowed her eyes again, but couldn't hide the tiny twitch at the corner of her mouth that curled her lips into a smile as she replied, "Looks like you love being in charge of the situation."

His smile turned mischievous as he decided to play with fire, only a little. "I admit; I'm a rather dominant type." And it had exactly the desired affect on her; her expression blanked for a second and he imagined all the dirty things she must have been visualizing.

The door hissed open and they both stepped out to hide behind the nearby wall to scan the perimeter. James felt her glance at him but was trying to focus on scanning their surroundings. The situation was serious now. Miranda's safety depended on his head being in the game, not in his fantasies. James would do anything to keep her safe.


	4. Chapter 4

**First, sorry people for the length of the chapter, but we didn't have the heart to divide it. We hope you like it anyway :)**

-X-

"We're clear," the sound of James' voice broke Miranda from her thoughts. Thoughts about him; thoughts she shouldn't have been entertaining in the first place. Not only because now was the absolute most inappropriate time, but primarily because James was just a soldier; he was average. Except for his build, sense of humor, confidence, the way he smirked and teased her, and the way he wore his hair. Miranda narrowed her eyes, annoyed, as she came to the infuriating realization that there wasn't very much about James that was average. Nothing, if she was honest with herself.

She somehow willed herself to look away just as he turned back at her, another smirk twisting the corner of his lips when he met her pointed gaze. The last thing she needed was for him to catch her staring at him. That moment in the elevator was still awkwardly burned into her mind and she didn't need another one of these moments to distract her.

When a few passers by gave them strange looks they relaxed their appearance and holstered their weapons before C-Sec could arrest them for disturbing the peace. They stepped further into the Zakera Wards, close to the C-Sec headquarters, and she allowed herself to really relax. Miranda doubted Cerberus would attack her directly so close to C-Sec and risk being captured and interrogated. For Cerberus that was as good as getting killed. She had a feeling where the others could be, but first she had a few things to take care of.

She walked up to the C-Sec office, hoping that Commander Bailey could help her get off of the Citadel without leaving behind a paper trail.

"Where are you going?" rang James' voice from behind her. His hand gently grabbed her by the arm, his touch featherlight but enough to send chills down her spine.

She stopped in her tracks and spun on her heel to face him. Training her expression to remain as neutral and cold as always, she waited for him to release her before she answered, "I need to get off of the Citadel without being seen. Cerberus is likely to be watching Barla Von, so Commander Bailey is my only hope." She turned back around and almost entered the C-Sec office only to be stopped again by his voice chasing after her, this time more softly than before.

"So you're leaving?"

After a few paces she realized that he was no longer following her. Miranda stopped walking and glared at the ground, caught between pushing herself forward and turning to look at James. She could feel Bailey's eyes on her through C-Sec's glass windows, but she ignored him for now and instead turned to James to give him a proper explanation. He deserved an explanation, she reasoned with herself, she owed him at least that for his help.

"No, I'm going to stay at the Citadel and wait for Cerberus to kill me," her voice rang with more sarcasm and annoyance than she intended; she hadn't intended any, she typically had a very well trained handle on her emotions. Miranda rubbed her temple as if warding off a migraine as she fought with the irritating part of her that wanted to apologize to him for her tone.

This time she didn't turn around, instead she took in the sight of him. Her face softened involuntarily and she couldn't look away, finding it strangely comforting to know that he was sad about her leaving. He bore his gaze into the the floor for a moment, and Miranda felt her heart tightening with remorse. _Remorse? Why would I feel remorse over saving my own life? _thought Miranda, not quite understanding why she felt so strange. Why did she even give a damn about how he felt? She never cared about anyone who wasn't an asset to her or her family; James shouldn't have fallen into that category. If she needed any more reason to leave the Citadel, she didn't need to look any further than the man standing in front of her.

Her attention was still on watching him as he slowly lifted his eyes from the floor. He locked his gaze with hers, again. Miranda couldn't bear looking into those hazel eyes any longer or she would... she didn't know what she would do, but her heart tightened immensely at the sight of him. She practically had to stop herself from reaching out to touch him.

Shaking the irrationality from her head, she muttered, "It's not safe for me here." She didn't spare him another glance before turning around and finally entering the C-Sec office. Bailey immediately stood from his seat in acknowledgment of her. Miranda was glad he recognized her from her past association with Commander Shepard, but she couldn't push back the part of her mind that always returned to the sad look James had in his eyes. She was so sick of feeling this way.

Bailey held out his hand as they approached, "Miranda Lawson," they shook hands. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

As he released her hand, she cut straight to the point, "I need a less than legal way off of the Citadel." Shepard was always good at small talk, but Miranda prefered the direct approach. She didn't have time to waste on meandering conversation.

The commander of C-Sec lifted an eyebrow, the look on his face caught between curious and suspicious. He crossed his arms over his chest and wondered, "Does this have anything to do with your shootout in the Presidium Commons?"

Nodding, Miranda didn't bother denying it. "It does. Those men were Cerberus assassins sent by the Illusive Man to kill me. If I stay here more will come; I'm not safe and neither will your space station as long as I'm here."

"Alright," Bailey waved his hand for her to relax. "I get it, you want out." The suspicion had left his blue eyes, leaving only curiosity behind. "You do recognize that I am the Commander of this here station's law enforcement, don't you? I have people arrested for doing 'less than legal' activities."

"I do," she replied in answer to his question. Tilting her chin up, Miranda kept her urgency from reaching her tone or features as she continued. "Which means that you know someone that is capable of getting me off the Citadel without the necessary paper work. You are not my first option, Commander; but my previous contact has been compromised, and I don't have the time to try and find another. I realize the awkward position that this places you in, but I think that the safety of the Citadel is more important to you than the legalities of my departure."

Bailey didn't say anything for a moment. He just stood there, inspecting her closely as he gaged the truth of her words and whether or not he felt like he could trust her. If there was one thing that Miranda knew about Commander Bailey it was his ability to accurately judge character. Bailey had let Kolyat walk away with attempted murder with merely a slap on the wrist, because Bailey knew that Kolyat Krios was a 'good kid'. He would see that she was telling the truth, and he would help her; he had to help her. Miranda didn't have very many options left if he didn't.

Sighing, Commander Bailey nodded and moved back towards his desk. "Alright, Miss Lawson. Out of respect for the good work you did with Shepard in stopping the Collectors, I'll help you just this once." He sat down at his desk and started typing into his private terminal.

She exhaled a breath of relief and allowed a professional smile to lightly pull the corners of her mouth. "Thank you, Commander."

"Don't get used to it," he rebutted, his gaze focused on the screen in front of him. "You'll owe me one."

"I'll make it up to you," she assured him. "You have my word."

"That'll do for now," Bailey allowed smirk to hint at the side of his mouth. It was barely a twitch, if Miranda wasn't paying close attention to him she wouldn't have noticed it at all. After another minute passed he leaned back in his seat and her omni-tool beeped.

As she waved the device on, Bailey explained, "Those are the directions to find the transport ship getting you out of here. Talk to the krogan, Brosk, and if he asks about payment tell him that the fact I haven't arrested him yet should cover it."

The orange glow of her omni-tool disappeared to standby as she returned her hand to her side. Giving Commander Bailey a curt nod, she repeated, "Thank you again, Commander."

He nodded in return. "Try to stay out of trouble." His gaze then panned over shoulder to where James was standing behind her. Giving James an authoritative look, he instructed, "You make sure she gets there safely."

"Aye, aye, Commander." James playfully saluted Bailey. "It would be my pleasure."

"I'm sure it would," he grumbled before shooing them from his presence. "Now scram, both of you. I've got a space station to run."

They left his office and headed back into Zakera Ward. Miranda moved to attend to her next matter of business. As she started walking, James' voice trailed behind her.

"Now what's the plan?"

Without glancing over her shoulder to look at him, she answered, "Now we finish what was started in the Commons."

-X-

James walked quietly behind Miranda as she led him through the Zakera Wards. He understood why she had to leave the Citadel, her safety was important to him; but at least while she was here he knew where to find her. The second that she stepped onto the ship that was getting her off the station, she would be like dust in the wind. Gone. He wouldn't know where she was or if she was safe. He saw first hand that she was more than capable of handling herself, but that knowledge didn't quiet the overly protective part of him that trusted only himself to keep her safe.

They walked past the store and down the stairs to the level below. James looked around, noting the Asian themed restaurant and the emptiness of his stomach. A smile surfaced on his features at the sound of the restaurant's chef announcing that _"Ramen is a delicacy back on earth."_

His attention returned to Miranda's alluring backside as he continued to follow close behind her. Miranda wove through the crowded marketplace until she reached a shady alleyway in the back. When she glanced back at him, James noticed the warning in her eyes as they lowered to his holstered weapon.

Nodding that he understood, James placed his hand on his Phalanx and gestured that he had her back. He was rewarded with the smallest of smiles that lasted for less than a second. It was long enough to set his heartbeat to full throttle and warm his blood by several degrees. If he had such an intense reaction to a slight twitch of her lips, he wondered how devastating an honest to God smile would be. Setting his jaw, James decided that he was going to find out before she fled the station and he missed his chance. His mind was made. He would see that smile, whatever it took.

The door to a small warehouse parted, revealing a short descending hallway that led to an unloading space for cargo. He removed his Phalanx from it's holster and followed Miranda deeper into the storage area. The second she stepped amidst the maze of piled boxes, Miranda pointed her weapon and fired twice and the excitement was over. She reholstered the borrowed Phalanx and watched as he moved past her, deeper into the warehouse.

James scanned the area, his weapon ready as he made sure the room was clear. When he found only the two bodies she had taken care of, he relaxed from his battle-ready stance and put away his weapon. Looking back at Miranda, he wondered, "How did you know where to find these pendejos?"

"Know thine enemy, Lieutenant Vega," she replied with less bite than she typically used when talking to him. Her gaze fell to the body nearest her, and continued, "Luckily for me, my enemy hasn't changed very much in the six months since I left them."

Silence joined them in the warehouse as they stood there, awkwardly waiting for the other to say something. After a moment James cleared his throat and broke the silence. "So when's your ride scheduled to leave?"

She didn't reference her omni-tool when she answered; she probably had all of the information stored to memory at first glance. "I have some time." Before he could even open his mouth to ask, she interrupted him before his question could be asked. "I don't know what kind of accommodations Bailey provided for me; I should probably eat something before I go. Join me?"

James blinked, shocked into silence. He didn't actually mind that her question sounded more like an order. It was the fact that she had asked him out at all. He was prepared to argue with her, to pester and annoy her until she agreed to go out with him; but in the end she was the one to ask. For a second he forgot how to articulate a proper sentence, or any words at all.

It was enough time for her to try and rescind her invitation. "Or don't," Miranda shrugged as though it made no difference to her one way or the other. She even looked a little relieved about what she mistook as his nonverbal rejection. Taking a step towards him, she gestured to the duffle bag still strapped across his chest. "If you'll just return my -"

Placing a protective hand on top of the duffel's strap, he asked, "Are you kidding?" He finally remembered how to use his words. "I'd love to join you," James didn't bother trying to mask or tone down his enthusiasm. _Miranda_ had asked _him_ out, there was no way he was going to pass up a chance to spend time with her.

To the skeptical quirk of her eyebrow, he assured her, "I'm starving."

The look she gave him was reluctant. Tightening her lips she muttered, "Right," and turned for the exit. Without waiting for him to follow her, Miranda left so fast James could've guessed that she was running away from him.

He watched her go for a moment, admiring her ass as she hurried back up the ramp. A grin spread over his mouth as he moved to catch up with her. James did always like a good chase. Let the hunt begin, he thought, his grin growing.

-X-

What had she done? Miranda berated her own foolishness. What had gotten into her? What kind of stupid idiot was she to invite James to get something to eat? Eat; there would be food! He would think that she'd asked him out on a date; which she hadn't. She'd simply had a momentary, monumental, lapse in judgement. That was it. It wasn't a date.

_This isn't a date, _she recanted to herself as she walked through the market area. It was just two adults having a meal at the same table and, maybe if James was lucky, they'd have a bit of conversation. It didn't matter how often, or how fervently, she repeated the mantra to herself, butterflies were still fluttering in her stomach at the thought of their non-date. _Oh, God,_ she fretted, _this is a mistake._

"So," James was walking beside her. When she looked up at him, she frowned at the satisfied smirk so proudly displayed on his lips. "What are you hungry for?"

Ripping her eyes from him, Miranda pointed her glare forward and murmured, "I've suddenly lost my appetite."

"I'm sure you'll find it again," he teased her, playfully bumping his shoulder against hers.

Miranda balked at his touch, caught between swooning and attacking, she merely pinned him with a glare. His smirk grew at the sight of her frown, idiotically unafraid of her. Gesturing towards a nearby restaurant, he continued, "How about Asian? They have Ramen."

Struggling to keep her eyes from rolling, she wondered how Ramen could possibly used as a persuasive argument in choosing a restaurant. Leave it to James to find a way. "Ramen," she repeated sardonically. "How could I possibly say no to Ramen?"

"You can't," was his quick reply. "That's why I suggested it." He winked down at her when she glanced at him.

She set her jaw, refusing to reply and entertain further banter. Miranda might have mistakenly set up this uncomfortable non-date, but that did not mean that she had to be pleasant throughout it. James led them into the open aired restaurant and they were ushered toward a table in the back. Biting back her surprise, she thanked James as he pulled out her seat for her before settling into the chair across from hers.

An awkward and uncomfortable silence joined them at the table. James' smirk hadn't yet left his face, despite Miranda's best efforts to glare it away. She hated that smirk, and hated what it did to her. Shaking her head she directed all of her attention to her fingers as she twiddled them in her lap. It was a short lived relief when the waiter interrupted the silence to collect their drink orders.

The sound of James shifting in his seat drew her attention from her intertwined fingers. Miranda didn't catch what he'd ordered, too caught up in her thoughts to realize that they were waiting on her. She was unfamiliar with the restaurant's drink selection but knew her tastes well enough to not concern herself with looking at the small menu on the table top. Ordering a glass of the best wine they had in the tiny restaurant, the waiter shot her a displeased look at the arrogant way she'd ordered before turning to get their drinks.

"I knew it," said James, effectively interrupting the awkward silence before it could settle in between them again.

Miranda quietly watched him for a moment, in no hurry to entertain conversation with him by taking his bait. Sighing in defeat, she surrendered to her curiosity. "What?"

The waiter returned with their drinks before he could answer, and James watched the young man place their drinks in front of them before reaching for the menu cards. James just waved him off as he said, "No need pal. We'll have the Ramen." The waiter nodded before retreating into the kitchen.

As soon as they were alone again, James picked up where they had left off. "I had a feeling you were the wine-drinking type," he winked before continuing, "I'm more of a whiskey drinker myself," and brought his cup up to his lips.

Miranda glanced at the tiny glass in his hands filled with what she supposed was some juice, before returning her eyes to his. "Whiskey," she repeated as if asking a question about his drink. Lifting an eyebrow curiously, she waited for his answer.

James let out a laugh as he glanced at the drink in his hands. "This? Oh this is just some apple juice. I don't like to drink before heading back onto a mission."

That surprised Miranda, amused by further evidence that he had brains; which he used constantly, always surprising her by demonstrating that he wasn't the type of man who liked to impress women with his looks alone.

She kept watching him as he took a tiny sip from his juice. The awkward silence settled between them again. "So," he tried to break the silence but the word hung between them, unable to instigate follow up conversation. Miranda kept her eyes on him and wondered why he was silent at all. She'd already figured out that he had an answer to everything, yet he sat there wordlessly watching her take a sip of her wine. _What is he thinking_, she wondered as she twirled the stem of her wine glass. She continued to stare at him, fascinated by the thought that he might possibly be intimidated by her.

Clearing his throat, James tried stoke up conversation one more time. "You were with Shepard helping her stop the Collector's?"

Miranda tensed. Her eyes narrowing as she tried to understand where he was going with this line of questioning. "Yes I was," she answered carefully.

James paused for a moment, watching her closely until he must have finally realized what his inquiry probably sounded like to her ears. "No, no... I wasn't going to- you know, judge you for working with Cerberus, or anything."

The tension left her a little, but still she was suspicious why he was asking her at all. Shepard had been there, and so had Garrus. He could easily ask either of them for every little detail.

Uncomfortable by her silence, James tried to convince her that he didn't mean anything bad by it. "I guess everyone has their reasons to do drastic things... right?"

Mirada relaxed a little more as she took another sip from her wine. Placing the delicate glass back on the table, she casually said, "I had my reasons," not sure if she should mention Oriana at all. Yet again, maybe he already knew and he was just testing her honesty. _Damn it, why am I so enraptured by him?_ she thought, blaming the wine for her insecurity.

"That's what I'm saying," James continued, "You probably had very good reasons to join Cerberus. Like Shepard; she had to join Cerberus to stop the Collector's, right?"

"In part," Miranda agreed. "Cerberus also rebuilt her; gave her back her life and the Normandy. She has a responsibility to the human race, but she also owed Cerberus a debt."

James picked his apple juice off the table and took a sip before wondering, "What about you? Did you owe Cerberus a debt?"

After a moment Miranda allowed a small smile to twitch at the corners of her mouth and wondered, "Are you comparing me to Shepard? Or her to me?"

A look of horror passed his face, "What? No! I was just saying that you both probably were in the same situation, and-" Her smile grew and his sentence fell short as he stared at her.

The wine had a relaxing effect on her, even though she'd taken only a few sips. That was strange, she could usually drink a lot more before even starting to feel the alcohol clouding her mind. But James was just so... she couldn't find the right words to describe it; disarming, perhaps, she might even venture so far as to call him sedating.

"Yeah yeah, I guess I'm making an ass of myself again." He pinched the bridge of his nose and chuckled incredulously at himself.

Miranda's smile remained on her face as she shook her head, "I am nothing like Shepard." She let out a sharp breath as she watched the wine in the glass, "In fact, no one is like Shepard."

"Commander Shepard is a hell of a woman," James agreed as he watched the drink in his hands, oblivious to Miranda watching him. He didn't catch the sad look on her face, and Miranda found it was better that he didn't.

"You speak fondly of her," she observed, her voice suddenly soft.

James shrugged, "Yeah, I mean... she's holding the galaxy together. I say that's a hell of a thing." James lifted his eyes then, realizing she was watching him.

Miranda wondered if there was something more between him and Shepard, and she knew there was only one way to find out. "It seems to me you admire her as more than just as a commanding officer."

He considered her statement for a second before a surprised look appeared along his features. "What? More than just - hell no!" he protested vehemently, surprising her with his conviction. "I don't admire her like that. She was my idol for a long time. Then she got locked up and I got to meet her and get to know her. Lola's great, I just would never think of her that way. Besides, she has the Major... or at least I think she has him. I'm not really sure what's going on on that front."

Miranda tried to ignore the relief that loosened her tense shoulders. Biting her lip, she dared to push her curiosity just a bit further. "Oh, now I get it; a _mujer_ is waiting for you at home." The way she said mujer made James grin and she immediately regretted even trying to speak Spanish.

James managed his sexiest smirk ever as he locked his eyes with hers, "It's _moo_-_herrr_. You have to roll your tongue."

"_Mujer_," Miranda tried again, feeling her face flush with embarrassment when she said it exactly the same way as she had the first time.

The smile James gave her was genuine, without the slightest hint of judgment in his features or in his hazel eyes. He leaned a bit closer to her, still smirking, "Put the tip of your tongue against the back of your front teeth and breathe out."

"_Moo_-_herrr_," she tried again and clapped happily when she was able to roll her tongue.

"You did it," James grinned at her, happy for her success. Running his fingers through his hair, he continued. "And to answer your question, no. There is no _mujer_ waiting for me at home."

The waiter returned with their plates and they both took a sip from their drinks as he placed their ordered Ramen in front of them. James picked up the chopsticks and smirked at himself as he visibly considered making another joke.

Adjusting the chopsticks in his hand, he teased, "Finally, something that 'Miss Perfect' can't do. I was starting to feel intimidated by you."

Miranda, now relaxed from her finished glass of wine, ordered another and couldn't help but laugh a little. She could feel James watching her closely, and she tucked her hair behind an ear as she wondered, not for the first time that evening, what was going on inside that head of his.

"I can't do a lot of things," she admitted, feeling as though right now she could tell him anything. "Cooking, for example. I just don't understand the mechanics behind it."

James smiled as he waited for the ramen to cool a bit, "Burn a lot of water, do you?" he asked with a laugh that lit up his face. Miranda wondered if he was always this handsome, or if she was simply losing her mind; too intoxicated by the wine to remember her very high standards. _Seriously_, she thought, _I will have to talk to the shop owner about the wine._

Smiling at him as well, she went on, "I mean with the spices and the measuring; I swear, rebuilding Commander Shepard from scratch was easier than putting together a decent meal. I just can't figure out how to get," she pointed with her chopsticks at the ramen in front of her, "this."

"Well, I have no idea how to make ramen." His smile had yet to leave his face, if anything it had grown throughout the course of their meal. "But I do know how to make some awesome eggs, and chicken soup, and some other meals that taste a helluva lot better than the rations on the Normandy." His smirk returned, wider and much sexier than it was before. "I can cook for the both of us."

Miranda quirked an eyebrow, completely ignoring the ramen in front of her and instead giving her entire attention to James. She hoisted her elbow up on the table to lean her chin on her fist, "I am a biotic, James," the way she said his name was a bit too intimate, but Miranda couldn't bring herself to care. "And biotics eat a _lot_. Do you think you could prepare a dinner large enough for the both of us?"

James also arched an eyebrow in recognition of the challenge, a challenge she knew that he wouldn't be able to turn down. "Guess there is only one way of finding out." He lingered his gaze on hers for a moment longer.

Miranda saw how his eyes pierced right into hers, how they had something in their depths that made her unwilling to look away; she wanted to gaze deep into those hazel depths until she figured out what exactly it was that drew her to him.

-X-

The smell of the food under his nose, combined with the bareness of his stomach, pulled his attention from Miranda down to his plate. James let out a long breath through his nose and offered her a warm smile before they both started to eat.

This date, that was what he was calling it, was turning out better than he could have hoped it would. So far he had managed to witness Miranda's gorgeous smile and hear her enchanting laughter, all in one sitting. He would have to pull the waiter aside later and ask exactly what brand of wine he'd been pouring into her glass. James needed to buy a bottle and save it for a special occasion.

He picked at his food with the chopsticks, unable to get a secured grip on the amount of noodles his empty stomach demanded. The sticks kept falling from his grasp and slipping down his fingers until he was holding them too awkwardly to grab any food at all. When he looked up it was to meet Miranda's amused gaze. Her lips were openly smiling, laughing at his struggle. That smile made his embarrassment worth it.

Unrolling the napkin beside her bowl, Miranda freed the silverware and handed him her fork. When he didn't immediately take it, she said, "There's no need to try and impress me, James. Chopsticks aren't easily mastered."

James stared at her for a second, admiring how her features had softened towards him. She wasn't being cold, or indifferent. Miranda was the most relaxed he had ever seen her. Glancing down at her offered fork, James frowned indignantly. He didn't give up on anything, chopsticks were no different. He was determined to master them even if he was going to make a fool of himself in the process.

"I'm not trying to Impress you," he rebutted. Shaking his head, he adjusted his grip on his chopsticks and tried again and Miranda sighed before setting the fork down between them. "I've never met an enemy I couldn't defeat." He was able to shovel a mouthful of noodles into his mouth before the chopsticks slid awkwardly in his hand. Fixing them again, James set his jaw and continued to attack his food.

A sigh could be heard across the table as MIranda silently regarded him. Amusement shone bright in her blue eyes, a smirk twisting the corners of her mouth as she watched his plight. Reaching out, she stayed his hand before he could stab back into the ramen. As she held his gaze she said, "Well if you're going to be stubborn the least I can do is at least help you defeat this enemy."

Her smile grew as she demonstrated with her chopsticks. "Take the first chopstick and rest it between the bottom knuckle of your index finger and the top knuckle of your ring finger." James mimicked her movements and placed his chopstick between his fingers just as she had instructed. Nodding, she placed her second chopstick into position and explained. "Resting the second chopstick on your index finger, use your thumb to secure it in place against your middle finger."

When James was holding it the way she had explained her smile grew with encouragement. Demonstrating how to move with her own utensils, Miranda said, "Now, if you use your index and middle finger to move the second chopstick, you shouldn't have any trouble picking up food." She waited for him to try, her encouraging grin assuring him that she wouldn't judge him too harshly if he failed.

Breathing in a steadying breath, James moved his chopsticks, pinching the noodles in his bowl he shoveled his mouth full of ramen. Miranda clapped in approval, a cheerful laugh escaping from her smiling lips as she started to eat from her own bowl of noodles.

"I knew you could do it," she winked at him and James froze in amazement of the gesture. He was definitely going to grab a bottle of that wine before he left the Citadel.

He blinked and the soft smile that was still playing on her lips. It wasn't his imagination, she actually was smiling. Somehow James had managed to chip through her ice queen exterior and find something warm and welcoming underneath. Sure it had taken a bit of alcohol and him making a fool out of himself, but there she sat; a smirking goddess, relaxed and content.

James was enchanted by that simper; she'd cast a spell on him from the start, but now it was the knowledge that underneath her standoffish facade was something incredible. She was more than a sexy woman with the perfect body. Miranda was smart, and resourceful, she was sexy as hell and twice as deadly. He could tell all of that from first glance, but it took the sight of that soft smile for it to hit him. He liked Miranda, a lot.

The weight of his appreciative gaze caused her to look up from her food and meet his eyes. When she arched a questioning eyebrow James cleared his throat and returned his attention to his ramen. "So, uh, this is some good ramen."

The corner of her mouth twitched and Miranda replied, "A delicacy some would say."

Chuckling James agreed, "Especially in comparison to that crap they serve on the Normandy."

"Military rations," Miranda nodded as though she understood his predicament, and pitied him for it. "Before Shepard bought proper food for Rupert, we were stuck on military rations too."

James smiled, "So you know my pain."

"Unfortunately," the smile she was giving him now was the most beautiful one he had seen her wear yet. "Letting go of Rupert might just have been the Alliance's biggest mistake."

At that James openly laughed. "Yeah, _that_ was their biggest mistake; not ignoring Shepard's warnings about the Reapers or locking her up for six months or anything."

"A good meal is important," she argued with a chuckle. "You don't realize how important until you're stuck with military rations."

Sighing he gazed down at his noodles and couldn't help but agree. "Well, I guess I can't argue with that."

"Of course you can't," Miranda pulled his gaze back up to hers, the smile on her lips was teasing. "I'm always right." She pointed to herself and reminded him, "Miss Perfect, remember?"

"That's right," he nodded as though just recalling that truth. "How could I forget?"

She shook her head and shrugged. "I don't know, but don't you worry, I enjoy reminding you."

Feeling bold, he allowed a flirty smirk to twist the corner of his lips. "All I need is one look at you to be reminded." James sat back and watched as Miranda rolled her eyes and waved him off, but just under the surface of that unimpressed frown was a smirk. A rosy flush colored her cheeks, and she avoided his gaze as that smirk threatened to overtake her beautiful lips.

Setting down her chopsticks, Miranda rested her elbow on the table and leaned forward to perch her chin on her fist. She allowed the smirk she'd been fighting off to unearth on her lips and wondered, "Tell me, Lieutenant Vega, how often does that line work?"

James returned her smirk with one of his own. "You tell me," he replied, "I've only ever had occasion to use it on you."

Before she could reply, Miranda's omni-tool sounded with a succession of beeps before she silenced the alarm. Glancing down at the glowing orange device, her features fell and she let out a sigh of disappointment. She placed her napkin on the table and informed him, "It appears as though our time is up."

He couldn't help but also feel a tinge of disappointment that their dinner had to end. James felt as though that he had only been scratching the surface when it came to Miranda. There was still so much of her left undiscovered, so much that her dossier had left out. How did she like her eggs? Did she prefer the sunrise or the sunset? What was her favorite color, and how did she take her coffee? They were seemingly unimportant questions, but James needed to know the answers to all of them. They needed more time.

"Yeah," he sighed, setting down his chopsticks and waving for the waiter to bring the check. "We don't want you to miss your ride out of here."

As their waiter came by and dropped off the check, Miranda said, "Thank you for dinner, James. I had a good time."

Smiling at her, he settled the bill as he rebutted, "Thank you for inviting me. This was fun, we should do it again."

Her smile fell a bit at his suggestion and some of her frigid exterior started to resurface along her features. "We'll see," Miranda replied.

They stood up at the same time and James reached for the duffle bag before she had the chance. He was going to steal as much time with her as he could. "Let me walk you to the ship."

"James," her tone turned scolding and her eyes narrowed disapprovingly. "I don't need a personal escort."

"No," he agreed. "But I'd like to see you off."

After a moment of consideration Miranda resigned with a sigh and nodded her consent. "Alright, marine; I trust you to get me there in once piece."

He smirked at her then, "You certainly are precious cargo, Miss Lawson."

-X-

Miranda tried to keep her gaze from constantly returning to the large man beside her, but it felt as though her eyes were being pulled to him by magnets. James had surprised her the entire evening. He was charming, clever, funny, and that smirk; she bit her lip at the thought of it. He had made her laugh and he'd made her forget. For a moment back there she had forgotten all about the Cerberus attack they'd just fought. It had been just him and her having ramen and sharing some laughs.

She glanced at him for the millionth time and he finally caught her. A smirk coiled his lips as she quickly diverted her gaze. There was something about James that drew her in. He was so warm and charismatic. James was honest and open, and she would be lying if she said she didn't find him the least bit attractive. The truth was that Miranda was attracted to him, and that was a problem.

Between worrying about her sister, her father, and Cerberus Miranda already had enough on her plate. She didn't need the addition of James to that already too long list. Maybe she'd consider a brief and non-committal hook up with him, but she was afraid that it wouldn't be that simple. Miranda was afraid she wouldn't be able to detach her emotions when it came to James. They'd only spent the afternoon together and he was already under her skin.

She hated this feeling and she hated that she was feeling it towards him of all people.

They strode deeper into the docking area until she recognized her ramp. "This is me," she said as they approached the krogan waiting by the gate. James waited some distance away as she went to speak with who she assumed to be Brosk.

"Miranda?" the krogan asked as she came close. When she nodded in affirmation he gestured toward the gate. "The other cargo is just about loaded up. We'll be taking off soon."

"Okay," she motioned that she understood. Pointing back at James she said, "let me say goodbye to my friend." To the annoyed look the krogan gave her she said, "I'll only be a minute."

"Make it quick," Brosk grumbled and turned towards the gate.

Walking back towards James, Miranda offered him a departing smile as she accepted her duffle bag back from him. They stood there for a moment, both unsure what to say to the other. Miranda tucked her hair behind an ear and glanced back towards the gate, knowing that they didn't have much time left together and hating that part of her was saddened by that fact. It was James that spoke up first.

"Be careful out there, okay?" He smiled at the insulted look she bore into him. "I know you can handle yourself perfectly well, but just be careful. When you get to where ever it is you're going let me know you've made it there safely."

"And compromise my location?" She arched an eyebrow and shook her head. "Not likely, James."

"I'm not asking for coordinates, just a message telling me you're safe," shoving his hands into his pockets, James shrugged as though he truly wasn't asking for much. "I promise to erase it the second I'm done reading it."

She allowed a faint smile to crawl across her lips. Nodding slightly she agreed, "Alright, I'll send you a message."

"I look forward to reading it," he replied. There was a second of hesitation that crossed his features before James took a small step towards Miranda, brushed her hair aside and placed a small tender kiss on the side of her mouth. Looking down at her shocked expression he said, "Stay safe, Miss Lawson," and turned on his heel.

Miranda gaped at him as she watched him go. Her hand reached up to her mouth and touched where his lips had brushed against hers. She was stunned speechless and it was only Brosk's impatient growl that reminded her that they needed to leave. Turning towards the docking doors, Miranda glanced back over her shoulder in time to watch James disappear into the crowd. She had to fight the urge to chase him down and claim a better kiss from him. James had finally done it; now Miranda would never be able to purge him from her mind.

-X-

James wove through the sea of bodies as he made his way back to the restaurant they'd just left. There was a bottle of wine with Miranda's name on it, and he was willing to pay top dollar for it. No expense was too high when it came to that woman, no price too high to see her smile and relax like that again.


	5. Chapter 5

After hours of straining his body he finally allowed himself to sit down and take a deep breath. His body was covered in slick layer of sweat, his fatigues soaked, his muscles burning from the intense exercise he'd been pushing himself through as soon as he returned to the ship.

Fighting that Reaper on Tuchanka had been insane, and for once James had felt a little unsure about following Shepard into that fight. It was Miranda's fault, he knew. He now thought about her before stepping off of the shuttle and into battle. It was ridiculous. They'd only had one dinner together, and already the woman was making him soft.

James had to keep moving. He had to do something, otherwise he would sit on the bed like a lovestruck teenager, thinking about the dinner and the amazing woman he spent the afternoon with. He let out a long breath and closed his eyes for a moment, just to imagine the woman that had been haunting his daydreams; Miranda.

He remembered how relaxed she'd been, how he hadn't seen any trace of worry or annoyance on her features. Her usually cold demeanor melted away and revealed something magnificent; it revealed her laugh, her smile, and her indeed perfect beauty. And the kiss... _Dios, the kiss_. The memory of it threw James back onto the cot behind his work station. It was small, tender and sweet, lovely even, but that same kiss was responsible for the torture that his mind was now subjecting him to. All he could think of were images that should've been hidden in the most darkest parts of his mind.

He was surprised at himself for his self-control, though; he managed to place a tiny kiss on the edge of her mouth without giving in to his need to taste her, to feel her soft tongue colliding with his. He remembered how his hand had twitched a little when he leaned it on her waist, wanting nothing else but to pull her into his arms and lose himself to her. He wondered then; _would she slap me, tell me to stop? Or would she just surrender to me and forget about the Cerberus pendejos?_

The what-if's plagued him, torturing him with the woman he had started to care for. Sighing, he ran his hand through his hair and opened his eyes to stare blankly at the flooring of the cargo hold. Somewhat disappointed, he lifted his head when he felt someone's presence near him. It was Shepard's smirk that greeted him and James wondered how long she had been standing there. _For a roaring and yelling brute on the battlefield, she can be pretty sneaky,_ he thought and mused whether or not to tell her that to her face.

"Eh Lola," he greeted her with a smirk of his own as he noticed how her deep blue eyes lingered on his sweaty torso. "Enjoying the view?" his voice dropped a full level but he already knew that had no effect on her. He teased her now because he could see the strain on her features. Her talkative salarian friend had died on Tuchanka, and even though she was putting on a brave face, James could see how much that loss had hurt her.

Shepard lifted her eyes to his as she forced her smirk to grow even a little bit wider, "I see something is bothering you James." She leaned her hip on the nearby crate but never tore her eyes from him as she spoke, "Did something happen on your dinner-date with Miss Lawson?"

At first he didn't register her words but then they hit him like a charging krogan battlemaster. The smirk instantly vanished from his face and he felt embarrassment coloring his cheeks. "Wha-what?! How did you- What are you talking about?"

Shepard couldn't help but laugh at his reaction; he was acting like he'd been caught doing something wrong and he knew it. Her laughter faded as she shook her head, but the smile remained on her face as she spoke, "The Shadow Broker happens to be my best friend, James. And we gossip. A lot." She almost giggled at the dumbfounded expression he gave her. "Oh come on, it wasn't that bad, was it?"

James looked away and sighed, finally realizing that he denied the things she already knew. _Damn this mujer_, he thought as he decided to fill her in on the details which she also probably already knew. "No," James sighed, resigning himself to the truth. "It was great."

Her features changed with her growing curiosity. Slightly tilting her head, Shepard wondered, "Then why the long face?"

"I don't know," James picked himself up off of the cot and walked to his workstation. Picking up his favorite rifle, he started to take the weapon apart. The process had long since become second nature to him, he could do it in his sleep; and James had had a dream or two where he actually had taken the gun apart only to reassemble it perfectly.

Without looking up from his busy work, James continued, "She's just different. At first it was her body that drew me in." He shook his head at the inticing memory of those unending curves. Detaching some more pieces of his firearm, he said, "But then our big mouthed Shadow Broker gave me some information about her, and when we ran into each other on the Citadel and grabbed some grub I saw a completely different side of her."

Shepard walked up until she was standing opposite of him at his work station. She quietly watched him take apart his weapon, her smirk still firmly planted on her lips. After a moment she wondered, "A side that you like?" 

He shrugged, at a loss of words. "Yeah," James coughed out a laugh. "A part that I like a lot. I mean, yeah, she can be a bitch; I know that better than anyone, but once you get past that." He shook his head again and retrieved the gun oil to clean out the rifle. "I can deal with the bitchiness, enjoy it even, if it means that I can see that other part of her."

Shepard made a high pitched, girly _aw_ sound and James felt his entire body ignite with a wildfire of embarrassment. She grinned at him as though he were the cutest thing in the galaxy, not the hulking, bad ass, ass kicking marine that he was. "James that is the sweetest thing I've ever heard you say." When he rolled his eyes and focused on oiling his weapon, her grin grew. "You poor thing! You fell in love with perfection herself and don't even know it yet!"

At that he tore his gaze from his task and bore it into the commander. "I didn't fall in _love_ with her, Lola." She raised a challenging eyebrow and he tried to defend himself. "I like her. I think she's beautiful and interesting; that does _not_ mean that I love her." After a second he returned his attention to his momentarily forgotten task and muttered, "She probably doesn't feel the same way about me anyway."

"Insecure isn't a good look for you, Vega," her expression turned teasing when he gave her a quick annoyed glance. Leaning her weight against the workstation, Shepard allowed a conspiratory grin to slowly stretch out across her lips before she decided to let him in on a secret. "I think that she does."

His body tensed before he was able to stop himself from reacting. Trying to regain his nonchalant appearance, he cleared his throat and asked, "Why would you say that?"

"Because," she sang. Lola was the older sister that James never wanted, and this was why. "_Someone_ has been using my Alliance ID to pull up your records on a daily, if not hourly, basis." When he slowly dragged his gaze up from his weapon parts to see the sincerity in Shepard's features, she continued with an ever growing smile. "And, I'm sorry Jimbo, but I just don't find you that interesting."

His heart was thudding excitedly against his ribcage at the thought of Miranda being that curious about him. The smile that crawled across his face couldn't be fought back, he didn't even try. "You think it's Miranda?" The thought that maybe he was leaving as big of an impact on her as she was on him made his insides all jittery.

Shepard quirked her eyebrow again, scolding this time. "Are you romancing any other nosy, overly controlling, identity stealing, ex-Cerberus Operatives that I should know about?"

James shook his head. "Not to my knowledge," he rebutted.

"Then yes, I think it's her."

He couldn't stop the nervous excitement from twisting up his insides. It was one thing when James had thought that he never actually stood a chance with a woman like Miranda; but now that he knew that she was also interested... he had to wipe the stupid grin off of his face. Shepard was staring at him like she would a small furry mammal, he definitely needed to tone down the grin.

"I just hope you know what you're getting yourself into, Jimmy," Shepard's tone was cautionary. "You would be good for each other, but I don't want to see either of you get hurt."

"You don't gotta worry about me, Lola," he shrugged off her concern with a reassuring smirk. "I'm indestructible, remember?"

The amusement faded from her features completely as she replied. "No one is indestructible when it comes to matters of the heart, James." She looked down at the workstation and added, "Trust me on that one."

He could see how serious she was about this. Shepard truly did care for both of them, and the least James could do was placate her reservations at least a little bit. "I'll be careful."

A slight smile tugged at the corner of her mouth and she pushed herself off of the workstation. Allowing her smile to grow a little, she said, "That's all I ask," and gave him a curt nod before leaving him to his task.

James watched her go, a little worried about his commander. Her whole attitude had changed toward the end of their conversation, and he knew it was because Lola had a lot going on right now. With a shake of his head, he returned to polishing his gun and putting it back together. He couldn't help it when his smile returned at the thought of Miranda. She liked him, his grin grew; he was never going to be able to get her out of his head now.

-X-

_To: Lieutenant James Vega_

_From: Miranda Lawson_

_Subject: Safe and Sound_

[Text deleted]

_To: Lieutenant James Vega_

_From: Miranda Lawson_

_Subject: No Subject_

_Lieutenant Vega,_

[Text deleted]

_To: Lieutenant James Vega_

_From: Miranda Lawson_

_Subject: No Subject_

_Hey there James,_

[Text deleted]

_To: Lieutenant James Vega_

_From: Miranda Lawson_

_Subject: No Subject_

_James,_

_This message is to inform you that I am safe. I appreciate your concern, and would like to thank you for the lovely dinner. I enjoyed myself more than I had expected to. It was fun and I hope that we may be able to do it again some time in the future._

[Text deleted]

_To: Lieutenant James Vega_

_From: Miranda Lawson_

_Subject: No Subject_

_James,_

_I'm safe. If the situation changes I will inform you._

_Thank you._

_Signed,_

_Miranda Lawson_

She squeezed her eyes shut and finally sent the message. Digging her palms into her eyes, Miranda forced herself to close out of the messaging window completely. If she kept dwelling on what James would think when he read her message, she was going to hack into the extranet and delete the message before he even got it.

She was still debating whether or not sending it in the first place had been a good idea. Miranda didn't want to encourage his behavior. There was so much on her plate as it was. James was a great distraction but she needed to stay focused. Cerberus was still after her, and if she kept sending messages to her childish crush she was going to get caught again.

Not only that but Oriana was missing. She set her jaw and her heart rate accelerated, distressed by the thought. The first time she'd lost contact with her sister had been an uncomfortable experience but not an altogether unbearable one. Before, Miranda had checked her attendance records for her sister's classes and saw that Oriana was still going to school; but now... now Oriana wasn't even attending her classes. It was like she had disappeared. No one had seen or heard anything. She was just gone.

_What happened to her? Why can't I reach her? Why didn't she go to school? Why didn't she call me back?_ These were the questions that weighed so heavily on her mind that she could think of hardly anything else. What scared Miranda the most was the knowledge that her father was involved. He had found Oriana, it was the only explanation.

_He found her_, her mind kept repeating like a mantra until her heart was racing so fast she thought it would explode. Not able to keep still for another second, she stood up and paced the room up and down, raking her fingers through her hair and pulling at it hard. Her lower lip was between her teeth, nipping it hard enough to draw blood.

Miranda was rarely this anxious and frightened, but when it came to her sister she was hyper-sensitive. She prided herself on her graceful ability to handle almost anything, but whenever something threatened little Ori she could hardly hold herself together. Miranda would kill anyone who threatened her sister. Just as she would kill her father as soon as she found him; she would kill him without mercy if he really had taken her little sister away.

Her head hurt from how hard she'd been dragging her fingers through her hair, and the irony taste of blood filled her mouth from worrying her lip too hard. She stopped abruptly in the middle of the room, lowered her hands to her sides and took a very deep, cleansing breath. She had to calm down and think, for Oriana's sake. She had to comb through her list of contacts and see who could be trusted to help her. It wouldn't be a very long list. Off of the top of her head only one name came to mind, and she needed all of the information up front before she went to Shepard for help.

Sighing, she went to sit back down at the desk and opened her list of contacts. Doing so, she spotted the other window that was open in the background. A faint smile appeared on her face as she gave in to the temptation to open the window that seemed to beg for her attention. She clicked on it and on the screen appeared the dossier of James Vega. By now, she had all of his information commited to memory, yet she couldn't help but open it every once in a while to just look at him. Like now, when chaos seemed to be happening all around her she took the moment to gaze upon the man that had such a firm grip over her mind.

She hoisted both her elbows on the desk and leaned her chin on her interlaced hands as she gazed upon the man on the screen. Two days had passed since their dinner-date, and all she could think about was how little time they had to get to know each other. There were things about James that weren't on his file. How did he like his coffee? What type of food he liked? What was the story behind the large mouthwatering scar over his nose and right cheek? She didn't know any of those things and wondered with a sigh if she would ever have a chance to see him again and find out.

With a sad smile, she closed the window before shutting her eyes for a moment, just to gather her thoughts. Her mind scolded her for thinking about James when Oriana might be in great danger, but the increasing beat of her heart told her another story. A story she was far too afraid to admit at the moment.

The sound of her omni-tool chiming pulled her from her thoughts. Waving on the orange device, she looked down at the incoming message and fought off the grin that threatened to steal her lips.

_To:Miranda Lawson_

_From: Lieutenant James Vega_

_Subject: RE:No Subject_

_Miranda,_

_Took your sweet ass time sending me that message, didn't you? And here I thought the three day rule died in the twenty first century. Thanks for letting me know though, It's good to know you're safe._

_Yours,_

_Lt. James Vega_

Her smile turned into a snicker as she imagined the smirk that must have been splayed across his lips as he typed this up. Her heart was picking up speed as it racketted against her ribcage. The way he had signed the message made her uncharacteristically giggly. She should have just left the message as it was. Replying would invite a response in return and Miranda couldn't afford to be distracted right now. Huffing, she disregarded her better judgment and replied.

_To: Lieutenant James Vega_

_From: Miranda Lawson_

_Subject: RE:No Subject_

_James,_

_You're lucky I sent you a message to begin with, Lieutenant. Notifying you of my safety isn't quite worth compromising it, wouldn't you agree? And mine? That would mean that I want you; which I can assure you, isn't the case._

_Miranda_

She sent the message and leaned back in her seat, smiling in self-satisfaction. Miranda knew that it would only spur the man on more. James just didn't know how to take no for an answer. He liked the chase, and was it so wrong that Miranda liked being chased even more? She didn't think so. It had been a very long time since she'd come across a man with the stamina to pursue her; and Miranda was suddenly hoping that James had enough stamina to spare.

Her attention snapped back to her omni-tool when it went off again, a grin already growing across her features.

_To:Miranda Lawson_

_From: Lieutenant James Vega_

_Subject: RE:No Subject_

_I suppose I should thank my lucky stars that you had it in your heart to message me. I can assure you that your safety is of the utmost importance to me. I just know that you wouldn't have bothered to message me in the first place if you weren't certain that you couldn't be tracked. Not getting rid of me that easily, Lawson; no matter how badly you try to wound me._

_Yours whether you like it or not,_

_James_

_To: Lieutenant James Vega_

_From: Miranda Lawson_

_Subject: RE:No Subject_

_You think you know me so well, don't you James? I can't be blamed if the truth hurts; but I am surprised to discover that you are such a sensitive man. I never would have thought._

_Never to be yours in this lifetime or the next,_

_Miranda_

His response was immediate and Miranda was under the impression that James was anxiously waiting for each of her messages; just as she was for his. This was ridiculous. No man had ever reduced her to a giggling school girl before. Not that she would ever admit that to him; she'd sooner die.

_To: Miranda Lawson_

_From: Lieutenant James Vega_

_Subject: RE:No Subject_

_Honestly I don't think I know you well enough at all, and that's not okay. Let's get together again so that I can find out more. It's only fair, I mean, you did just find out my deepest darkest secret. Not even Shepard knows I'm sensitive. I cried at the end of the last Blasto movie and everything. I'm full of surprises, _mi corazon_, and the only way to find out what they are is over dinner._

_Never say never,_

_James_

This feeling she was battling with was completely alien to her. Her heart was beating excitedly against her ear drums, butterflies were fluttering in her belly, and the smile that had taken her lips wouldn't go away no matter how much she tried to fight it off. Tucking her legs underneath her, Miranda brushed back her hair and bit her lip as she tried to at least tone down her girlish grin; a grin that only grew when she looked up what _mi corazon_ meant.

_To: Lieutenant James Vega_

_From: Miranda Lawson_

_Subject: RE:No Subject_

_What part of me leaving the Citadel for my own safety don't you understand? Dinner would be dangerous, and I haven't decided yet whether or not you're worth the danger, or if there's any more surprises that I want to discover._

_NEVER,_

_Miranda_

_To: Miranda Lawson_

_From: Lieutenant James Vega_

_Subject: RE:No Subject_

_Well, when you've decided I'm worth the danger let me know. Until then Shepard has us heading toward the Citadel. She said there was something with the salarian councilor that she has to deal with. Back to the grind; it's about time too, I was going stir crazy in this bucket._

_Yours,_

_James_

Miranda read and reread the message several times before deciding not to reply. He had a mission to prepare for and she had gotten distracted from finding trustworthy contacts. There was enough for both of them to deal with without being sidetracked by adolescent message flirtations. Setting her omni-tool to standby, she returned to her task of rifling through informants and contacts. She needed to find Oriana, or she needed to find her father, and she had wasted enough time dallying with James.

-X-

His entire body shook as he tapped his foot. James was seated on his cot, his attention zeroed in on his glowing omni-tool as he waited for her response. Scrolling through their message history, he reread their conversation, grinning contently to himself for holding his own against her standoffish attitude.

He'd been starting to think that she might not message him after all. But Miranda had told him she would and she was a woman of her word. It was worth the wait anyway, their brief interaction was enough to set his pulse to full throttle.

"Hey, Chuckles," the vibrating sound of Garrus' voice pulled James from his thoughts and his attention from his omni-tool. The Turian arched an eyebrow at him, a curious look on his face. "Wipe that stupid grin off your face and gear up."

Waving off his omni-tool, James pushed himself off of his cot and strode over to the armory. "Today's going to be a good day, Scars. I can feel it."

Garrus gave James a suspicious once over before shaking his head. "Tell that to Shepard. She's feeling something a little different."

Picking out his armor and weapons, James started to strap everything on as he wondered, "Is she expecting trouble?"

"This is Shepard we're talking about," replied Garrus. "She's survived this long because she's always expecting trouble."

James fell silent as he considered what might be putting the commander on edge. He trusted her instincts better than he trusted his own. If she felt like this might go sideways, then chances were that it was. Shaking his head, he chased thoughts of Miranda to the back of his mind as he prepared for the mission. Shepard expected his head to be in the game, if it wasn't it could cost someone their lives.


	6. Chapter 6

He could hear the Major's voice just past the door, "They took down the shuttles," Kaidan said to the Councilors. "Everyone back to the elevator."

Shepard looked back at James and Garrus, waiting for their ready nods before she opened the door. They parted with a swish and the three of them exited onto the Presidium and into Alenko's pointed weapon. His aim was on the commander's chest, a threatening set to his features as he glared at the three of them.

"Shepard what's going on?!" asked the Major as he raised his weapon.

Setting his jaw, James lowered his aim from the Major but kept his finger wrapped loosely around the trigger. _Pendejo_, he thought with a growl. They didn't have time for this. Cerberus was on their heels and they needed to get the Council to safety. Later the Major and Shepard could argue about her former Cerberus ties, right now too much was at stake.

Standing behind Alenko, Councilor Udina narrowed his eyes at Shepard and said, "She's blocking our escape. She's with Cerberus." The accusation in his tone made the commander's hackle's rise. Her shoulders tensed and James didn't need to see her face to know that the glare she was boring into Udina could kill a Harvester.

Alenko kept his aim steadily trained on Shepard as he addressed the councilor. "Just... hang on. I got this. Everyone calm down." His attention returned to Shepard, his brows furrowed with distrust.

"I can explain this, Kaidan," James knew she would try to reason with him, but from the look on the Major's face he somehow knew the Major was far from convinced.

They had already lowered their weapons, but as long as Udina stood among the Council and Cerberus was on their tail, Kaidan could forget about them putting their weapons away completely. James watched their heated interaction in distaste. Alenko was protecting the real enemy and had his weapon pointed at the woman trying to save them. He knew that Shepard was on the verge of doing something drastic. The drell back there had been a past lover of hers, and he had gotten hurt really badly fighting Kai Leng. If Kaidan didn't back off he was going to regret it.

"Come on Shepard," Kaidan started slowly, his voice suddenly soft, "gun drawn on a Councilor? Kinda looks bad."

This time, she lowered her weapon and showed the others to follow her example. "I've come for Udina," Shepard's voice sounded in the ongoing chaos. "You don't have to get involved." Her tone was tight, agitated. James recognized the strain with which she spoke, and if Kaidan knew her half as well as James assumed he did, he would know to back off _now._

"Yes I do," Alenko assumed the firing position. "I'm all that's left."

Garrus raised his weapon to beat Kaidan to the punch, but Shepard lowered her weapon completely and put out her hand, stopping either of them from firing. Taking an angry step forward she growled, "We don't have time to negotiate. You've been fooled, all of you." Her gaze flicked over to the human councilor and narrowed. "Udina's behind this attack, the salarian councilor confirmed it."

The Council stiffened and looked questioningly at Udina, who curled his lip into a sneer. "Please," he brushed off Shepard's words like the council had done about so many other things before this. "You have no proof; you never do."

Shepard pointed to the sealed door behind them, "There are Cerberus soldiers in the elevator shaft behind us. If you open that door they'll kill you all."

Udina narrowed his eyes. The asari councilor beside him gave Shepard a speculative look before admitting, "What Shepard says is possible; unlikely but possible."

Rolling his shoulders James was prepared to lift his weapon at the slightest threat of attack. It wasn't much of an admission on her part, but at least there was some doubt in the councilors' minds about Udina. It had to be enough for them to sidestep all this time wasting bullshit. They needed to deal with Udina.

The human councilor glared at his asari counterpart. "We don't have time to debate this," at least they could all agree on that. "We're all dead if we stay out here. I'm overriding the lock." He moved toward the transit terminal with purpose and Shepard immediately tensed again, lifting her weapon and schooling her aim on Udina.

Kaidan kept himself between Shepard and the Councilor, allowing Udina to make it all the way to the transit terminal undisturbed. "Stand down," the Major warned, his weapon at ready. "I don't want to shoot you."

If the situation was different James might have scoffed. It sure looked like Kaidan was pretty eager to shoot down the Commander from where he was standing. Not once during this whole confrontation had the Major lowered his weapon. His features hadn't shifted once with doubt that maybe Shepard was right, maybe Udina was a treacherous bastard that needed to be taken down. James didn't know how Shepard had the patience to deal with it.

"Kaidan," Shepard's voice was calming even in her urgency. "You know the stakes. You have to trust me. I'm a lot of things but an underhanded assassin isn't one of them." Her gaze bore into the Major as she asked, "Where does that put you?"

He considered her words for a moment. _Gracias a dios_, thought James as he witnessed Kaidan's doubt finally creep into his features. Setting his jaw, the Major whipped around and trained his aim on Udina, finally taking his weapon off of the Commander and onto someone who actually deserved to be shot.

"Udina," the warning was clear in Kaidan's voice. "Step away from the console."

Undina gave Kaidan a snide sneer as he grumbled, "To hell with this," and returned his attention to the console.

Behind them the lock on the door turned yellow, alerting them that someone was about to join this party and shots were going to be fired. The asari councilor approached Udina and wordlessly tried to pull him away from the console, only to be shoved onto her back by the man. A weapon appeared in Udina's grasp and he pointed it onto the asari councilor who was still flat on her back.

"He's got a gun," Kaidan shouted.

_No shit_, thought James.

The sound of a discharging weapon rang out in the air and the spray of blood misted from Udina as he fell to the ground. Kaidan looked back to see Shepard's aimed weapon, the ruthless set to her eyes. Garrus moved to help the asari councilor to her feet and the Commander holstered her weapon as she walked towards Udina's body.

"Get the Council back and cover that door," she ordered, her tone authoritative and agitated.

Just then sparks began to fly from the crease between the door, someone on the other side had gotten tired of trying to bypass the locks and had resorted to simply pulling the door apart. She pulled her weapon back out and assumed point in the line between whoever was on the other side of that door and the Council. When the doors parted it was Commander Bailey that walked through with a few of his officers.

They lowered their weapons again. If Commander Bailey was the one joining them, that meant that Cerberus had turned tail and left. The Council was safe; at least for now.

-X-

Dragging a hand down his face, James leaned his back against the elevator and sighed. As far as missions went that last one had been far from routine; they hardly ever were nowadays, but they'd gone to the Citadel to speak to the Councilor not to save the entire space station from Cerberus. He was just grateful that Miranda had made it off of the Citadel in time to escape this. If she had still been there when Cerberus attacked... he shook his head, refusing to consider what might have happened to her.

The elevator stopped on crew deck and the doors parted to reveal Garrus standing in front of the memorial wall. James stepped out of the lift and took a place beside him. Holding onto the towel wrapped around his neck, he glanced at the showers and decided that his hygiene could wait for another second.

"Scars," he announced his presence as he joined the turian at the wall. "What's up?"

Garrus was silent for a moment, staring down at the plaque in his hands as his mandibles flared. "I just got word from Huerta," his vibrating voice said softly.

James' gaze dropped down to the plaque held in Garrus' talons and noticed the name inscribed into it. His heart plummeted. Shepard had ran to the hospital the second she knew that the Council was safe. Her worry and fear had shown plain as day in her blue eyes, unmasked like he had never seen before. The drell was dead; Shepard's lover was gone. His thoughts immediately went to Miranda and James' melancholy multiplied tenfold.

Tightly clutching the plaque in his grasp, Garrus raised it to an empty space on the memorial wall and started to slide it into the slot. James placed a hand on the turian's shoulder, giving him a disconcerted look.

"Shouldn't we wait for Lola?"

Garrus paused and gave James a sidelong glance. After a second of consideration, he shook his head and proceeded to slip Thane's plaque onto the wall. "She has enough to deal with as it is. She shouldn't have to carry the weight of this herself. We're her crew, her friends, we'll carry this burden for her."

"I get that," James replied as he stared at the new plaque resting on the memorial wall. "I just think that maybe she'd want to do this herself. I know that I would want to if it was me."

Mandible's flicking, Garrus shook his head again. He turned towards James and gave him a serious look. "You saw her back there, James," his steel blue eyes watched James closely, silently instructing him to listen. "You saw the look in her eyes when Thane got hurt; and now he's dead and this Sprits damned war won't allow her even a second of reprieve. We won't win this war without Shepard; and Shepard can't fight if her head isn't in this one hundred percent. This," he gestured to the memorial wall, "this is how we help her through the war."

Staring at the wall, James quietly rebutted, "By taking away her ability to pay her respects?"

"By giving her a chance to come up for air." His gaze was still locked on James, the plea in his subharmonics clear even if James couldn't hear them. "She's holding herself together by a thread right now, 'white knuckling it' as you humans say. Let the dust settle, at least a little, and when she's truly ready she will come here and pay her respects on her own."

James grit his teeth for a second as he thought. It felt wrong to do this without the Commander, but he understood where Garrus was coming from, and knew his intentions were in the right place. Garrus cared about Lola a lot; he wanted what was best for her, even if that meant overstepping a line here or there.

He relented with a sigh and detached his gaze from the memorial wall. Looking at Garrus he gave the turian an understanding nod, agreeing to abstain from further protest. "She really cared about him, didn't she?"

Garrus nodded. "They needed each other, at least to get through our last suicide mission. Thane was a good man; he'll be missed."

They stood there silently for a moment until James decided to return to his temporarily forgotten objective. "I'm going to hit the showers," he said to Garrus. "You up for a game of cards later?"

Turning his gaze back to the memorial wall Garrus replied, "We'll see." His mandibles flared as his gaze wandered over each name listed on that wall. "I'm going to hang out here for a little while; pay my own respects."

James nodded wordlessly and strode toward the bathroom. He understood where Garrus was coming from. They were all losing people to this war, but it was like every single loss was stacked on the Commander's shoulders and she was tasked with the job of carrying them all to victory. This death would hit her hard. If there was anything they could do to lessen the burden then it was their job as her friends and her crew to do it.

-X-

After she was completely sure that he was the contact that knew about her sister's whereabouts, she didn't waste any more time. She planned her attack, quickly yet carefully. Everything had to go according to plan, Oriana's safety depended on it. After everything was set up just the way she wanted it, she decided to set her plan into action.

Her contacts had set her on a trail of loose ends and sloppy cover ups. The man she was hunting was lazy. Cerberus trained their operatives better than this, but Miranda supposed she should've counted herself lucky. If he hadn't been so careless, she wouldn't have found him so quickly.

The target was holed up in a dive bar. He had been there for hours. _Drinking on the job_, she shook her head. The mistakes that had led her to him were those of a drunken idiot. She only had to wait for a few more hours before he emerged from his cesspool, tripping over himself and unbalanced like the drunken degenerate that he was. Was he drinking away the guilt of handing and innocent girl to a monster? Miranda set her jaw as she stepped out from the shadows and followed soundlessly behind him.

He stepped into a lightless alleyway and wandered behind a dumpster to take a piss. Rolling her eyes, she waited for him to zip back up before she came up behind him and buried a needle into his neck with enough tranquilizer to knock out a rabid varren. _That was anticlimactic. _It only took her a few minutes to capture him, and it took her another few minutes to drag him to a secured place where no one would hear anything.

Now, she stood in another room to take a few calming breaths before she would go back to continue her 'questioning'. He was a tough one to crack, but Miranda knew how to break a man to get exactly what she wanted; they could do this all night.

After she readjusted her gloves and the lab coat she wore to prevent blood from ruining her favorite uniform, she went back into the room where the man was helplessly taped to his seat. The abandoned warehouse was dark and dank, private; which was exactly what Miranda needed to do what needed to be done. The rusting chair the man was strapped to was the only one in the room. She had set up an overhead hard light, to see her work and to blind her subject; and aside from the chair the only other furniture in the room was a rack holding her tools. She left that in plain view of the subject, knowing that his imagination would go to places she would only consider if he continued to keep his mouth shut.

She glanced at him as she made her way to her tools. His face was beaten up badly, the blood that leaked from his nose and eyebrows was already drying onto his skin. Still, he wouldn't talk, which forced Miranda to use more drastic measures.

"Alright," she started as she went to the nearby rack where she hid some sharp medical equipment. She took out a scalpel and thumbed over the flat blade as she returned to the man's side. Showing him the knife, she brought it to his face and suspended it there, letting him shudder against the cold metal while her angry eyes glared at him.

"I know this hasn't been fun for you," she said as she watched the scalpel's metal reflect the overhead light. "But it's about to get so much worse. Tell me what I need to know and I'll make this quick." The man shut his mouth and turned his head away from her. Using the flat of the blade, she pressed the knife against his cheek and returned his attention towards her. "Or," she growled, "We can keep playing games until I've blundered you so completely that not even Cerberus will be able to identify what's left of you. It's up to you."

When he didn't say anything she ran the scalpel along his jaw, her eyes watching its movements as it cut through his flesh like butter and thick streams of blood flowed through the gash like water from an open faucet. "Who took Oriana? And where is she?" Her voice was low, but it bore the note of threat that would freeze a lesser man's heart. The man cried out in pain as the scalpel dug dangerously deep into his neck.

"I- I don't know what you're talking about," he breathed out and met her eyes. Miranda already knew he was lying to her, the look in his eyes only proved she was right.

"You don't seem to understand what I am capable of doing," she ran the scalpel to the other side of his neck before she grabbed his hair, yanking his head back roughly. "Talk!"

The man coughed and was silent for a moment, but then he met her gaze and Miranda already knew his answer, "No…"

That was enough for her; she threw the scalpel into the corner and her body lit up with the fiery blue light of her biotics. She slammed her fist against his cheek, focusing her biotic strength into the punch to make it even more painful. The man grunted out in pain as Miranda hit his left cheek, then his right, before she grabbed his hair again.

"WHERE IS SHE?!" she yelled in his face, hoping to finally break him; but the man just kept silent and shook his head. She narrowed her eyes and released his hair before she started to hit his ribs, hearing a few bones breaking in the process. The man cried out in pain, she ignored the whimpers and cries that escaped him as she continued her torturing. She stopped after a while to take a few steadying breaths before she grabbed him by his neck, choking the air out of him.

"I'm asking one last time; where is she and who took her?!"

"I- I-"

"Very well," said Miranda before she went to the desk to grab a butcher knife. The man's eyes widened in fear as she approached him, her angry eyes shooting bullets at him as she spoke, "You leave me no choice." She lifted the knife above his hand, ready to cut off his finger while he pleaded for her not to do it; and just before the knife could reach his finger, he cried out.

"Alright alright! I'll talk!" Miranda stopped, the knife suspended in the air above her head. She glared down at the man, the threat clear in her eyes. He had her attention, but if she didn't like what he had to say fingers were coming off.

He took a few deep breaths to find his voice again before he spoke. "Our job was to kidnap the girl and bring her to some kind of warehouse."

"Where?" Miranda interrupted him.

"The Asgard system in the Exodus Cluster, one of Tyr's moons." Miranda frowned in displeasure and he quickly continued, "It was just a meeting point. Our contact came and paid us. He took the girl and left; he didn't say where he was going." He started to cry out when her features didn't change. "That's all I know!"

"Who?" he took his time to answer her question, causing her biotics to flare up in anger again. "WHO?!"

"Henry Lawson!" And with that, Miranda's heart shattered to pieces. She bit back her all over her emotions except for rage. The man's eyes widened in terror at the sight of it. "I told you everything I know! Now let me go!"

Miranda watched him for a while, deciding whether to let him live or not; _he is the one who kidnapped little Ori, _her mind kept repeating until she couldn't ignore it any longer. Without any further hesitation, she took out her sidearm and pointed it between his eyes before she pulled the trigger. Miranda watched the now dead man and couldn't help but let her the rest of anger out. She pulled the trigger into his chest a few more times before she calmed down.

Sighing, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, hoping to regain her composure and not to start panicking. But how could she stay calm? Her father captured little Ori, her greatest fear was now her reality. Her heart beat so fast it thudded against her ear drums. She could barely breathe as she looked at the scene in front of her. She had to get out of here, or she would lose her mind.

Removing the lab coat and gloves, she threw them on the floor in front of the dead body before she left the room. Once the doors closed behind her, she entered the lock password before sat down on the nearby couch to take a few deep breaths. She knew she would start to panic and freak out; she was already pulling her hair too hard as she stared at the floor, trying to come up with a plan to save her.

Suddenly her omni-tool flashed, she glanced down to it and froze in her seat; she was receiving a call from James Vega. _Damn it, _she thought as she bit her lower lip, the frown returning to her face. Why was he calling now, at the worst possible moment ever? It wasn't that Miranda wasn't happy to hear from him, because she was; more than she would like to admit. But everything felt like it was crashing down on her. She wasn't sleeping well these past few days and she knew James would see right through her.

The omni-tool kept beeping, she cursed at his persistence. With an annoyed sigh, she picked up the call, trying to sound as normal as possible.

"James," she was surprised at how collected she sounded. "I trust there is a very good reason you're calling me."

The sound of his voice was like cold water on a burn, soothing. "_There is_," he admitted and Miranda could envision his smirking lips. "_I wanted to check in with you and make sure that you're still safe_."

She fought back the wary smile that threatened to surface on her lips, knowing that James would be able to hear it in her voice. "I am," she leaned back into the sofa and sighed as she combed her fingers through her hair. "I don't think that I'd have bothered to answer your call otherwise." After a brief pause she gave into her curiosity and wondered, "Is something wrong?"

James didn't answer for a moment, silence joining them as they both took a second to think. There was a heavy note of sadness in his tone when he spoke up again, and Miranda found that she hated the sound of it. "_Cerberus attacked the Citadel_," he said. "_There was a coup, Councilor Udina struck a deal with the Illusive Man and the Citadel was a goddamn war zone for a day_."

A sharp gasp cut through her as she was struck by the news. Concern flooded through her veins like frigid water, and she had to clear her throat to keep it from sounding in her voice. "What happened? Are you okay? Did anyone get hurt?" It wasn't exactly playing it cool, but it appeared that when it came to James she could hardly ever fake her emotions; a fact she was incredibly displeased about.

"_That message that Shepard got from the salarian councilor that I told you about, turns out it was about Udina being a treacherous bastard. When we got to the Citadel Cerberus had already disabled C-Sec and they were making a move on the Council._" The sigh that sounded on the other end of the line was tired, weary. James sounded as though the described events were weighing on him heavily, and he had sought out Miranda to unburden with. She was both elated and frightened about his confidence in her.

"_I'm fine_," he continued over her wandering thoughts. "_Shepard saved the day like she always does; but that drell she was seeing_ -"

"Thane?" Miranda's heart jumped into her throat. "What happened to Thane?"

"_He saved the Councilor's life. An assassin was about to kill him and Thane appeared like a fucking ghost and fought off the Cerberus scum; put up a good fight too until the other assassin stabbed him with his sword._" A humorless laugh sounded on the other end of the call and James sighed in a way that made Miranda envision him running his fingers through his hair. "_He used a sword. How old school is that?_"

_Oh no_, Miranda's heart fell from her throat and into her stomach. She knew how much the Commander had cared for Thane; she knew how important he was to her. "Is he okay?" There was a pleading tone to her voice that she couldn't suppress. "Were they able to save him?"

James didn't reply immediately, leaving her to hang in suspense as she waited for him to find his voice. "_No_," he finally answered, sharing Miranda's sadness. "_They got him to Huerta and he survived the surgery, but he didn't make it._"

Burying her face in her hands, Miranda shook her head. Her relationship with Thane had been proffessional. They had respected one another and had each other's backs, but they hadn't exactly been friends; not like he had been with Garrus and a few others, certainly not like he had been with Shepard. Thane Krios had been a good man. At the very least he had given his life fighting, even if in the end it was still his Kepral's syndrome that claimed his life.

"How's the commander taking it?" she wondered after a moment of silence.

"_Pretty hard_," James answered with a sigh. "_She's putting on a brave face but I can see it in her eyes; she's hurting_."

Silence joined them again, a morose weight that brought them both down; rubbing them raw with the severity of this war and the reality of their losses. The soft sound of James' voice broke the quiet as he said, "_Through all this shit, the only thing I can think about is how you made it off of the Citadel in time to escape all of this_."

Miranda's heart accelerated in her chest with fear that he might actually think that she had played even a small part in the attack. Anger then joined in with her fear; James was the one who'd been pursuing her relentlessly. She hadn't once given him reason to doubt her. There wasn't anything she could do about her past, and he had no right to judge her for it.

"What are you saying?" she allowed some of her ire to sneak into the question, adding a certain venom to her tone.

He didn't sound like he had heard the underlying bite to her question when he answered. "_Just that I'm glad you're safe_." Her jaw fell with surprise and she was glad that he couldn't see her astounded expression. "_If you had been on the Citadel during the coup and Cerberus had found you . . ._" he let the sentence hang there, unable to finish his thought.

Miranda snapped her mouth shut and fought the smile from her lips. He was concerned for her well being, not suspicious that she might have been a part of the coup. James cared about her safety, not for her past Cerberus ties. It was the sweetest thing she had ever heard.

Slouching back into the couch, she twirled a lock of her hair as she wondered, "You don't think that my timing was convenient?"

"_I think that you didn't leave a moment too soon_." he replied. "_I don't even want to think about what they might have done to you if they'd found you on the Citadel._"

With that the grin won over her and expanded across her lips. Clearing her throat, she tried to keep it from sounding in her voice. "So you don't think that I was part of it?"

"_What?_" His tone was shocked; telling her that he hadn't even considered the possibility. "_No. That wouldn't make any sense_."

"Wouldn't it?" she challenged. "I am a former Cerberus Operative, one of the Illusive Man's best."

"_Former_," he repeated the only part of her statement that had any value. "_They're hunting you down for cutting ties. What would you gain from faking your alliances? The Illusive Man wants you dead. I've seen that for myself. You're not with Cerberus anymore; that I know without a doubt_."

She had gone through so many emotions during this call. Her heart had jumped into her throat and fallen to her toes, and now it skipped happily inside of her rib cage. Miranda toned down her grin, scolding herself for her girly reaction. After a second of silence she said, "That has to be the most idiotic thing I have ever heard." _While also being the sweetest,_ she admitted to herself.

A incredulous scoff sounded from James as he asked, "_Excuse me?_'

"James, how can you trust me so completely?" it was probably the same reason why she trusted him. "You don't even know me."

"_I do know you,_" he argued, when she made a disbelieving sound he continued his protests, "_Maybe not as well as I'd like to know you, but well enough to know you had nothing to do with the coup_." A second passed and he added. "_I trust my instincts, and my instincts are telling me that you're telling the truth about leaving Cerberus_."

She didn't reply immediately, trying to wrestle her grin back down to a small smile. When she managed to tone her smile down a bit she said, "You're a foolish man, James Vega."

She could imagine him shrugging as he said, "_I have good instincts,_" and could hear the smirk in his voice. "_And they're right about you_."

Miranda bit into her lip, her grin returning to its highest setting as she bit back the girlish giggle that threatened to spill past her smile. She picked at the balls of lint that clung to the sofa and remembered what she was doing in the warehouse in the first place. There was a lot to do in order for her to locate her sister, and she had spent too much time already talking to James.

Clearing her throat, she said, "I have some things to take care of. I need to go."

"_Yeah, I should probably try and get at least a few hours of sleep._" James replied, a note of disappointment in his voice. "_It was good talking to you Miranda. Stay safe okay?_"

Her smile grew. "I will. And you take care of yourself out there."

"_You got it_, mi corazon." he replied.

She disconnected the call without responding to his flirtations. Sighing, she didn't move from her seat as she collected her thoughts. Miranda reclaimed her no-nonsense attitude and pulled herself off of the sofa. There was a lot of work to be done, starting with that mess in the other room.

Pulling herself up from the couch, Miranda got back to work.


	7. Chapter 7

_Bastard_. Miranda grit her teeth as she rummaged through one of her father's abandoned science facilities. The personnel here had been prepared to leave at the drop of a hat. The information was gone; all of it. Whatever it was that they had been studying, whatever it was that they had been doing, there was nothing left. Which left Miranda back at square one.

She rifled through yet another terminal, knowing she'd find nothing but hoping that someone had made a mistake in their hurry to evacuate the facility. Her blood began to boil; she had been so close. Miranda had been sure that this was the last stop to her father. She had thought that this was the key to getting her sister back. But she was met by defeat again. Henry Lawson was gone and had covered his tracks well enough to give her pause.

After she'd dealt with the drunken fool that had handed Oriana to their father, she'd back tracked to the moon that had been their meeting point. From there she had followed a series of evidence and contacts to this empty, abandoned, _useless_ science facility. The only thing she'd learned along the way was the Illusive Man had contacted Henry. There'd been some overlooked messages between the two powerful men, a cryptic conversation about joining forces. That was all that she'd been able to decrypt from the exchange. There was nothing about Oriana, or what Henry planned to do with her.

Miranda found that the not knowing was the worst part. Perhaps the urgency wouldn't be so great if she knew that Oriana was safe. She wouldn't feel like she was running around in circles, chasing her tail, if she knew where to find her sister. She wasn't too proud to know that she needed to tell someone what was going on. Miranda knew that someone needed to know what she was up to, so that they'd know to come looking for her if she simply disappeared during this wild goose chase.

Even as her heart told her that that person needed to be James, it was Commander Shepard that she sent the message to. Despite his best intentions, James would only get in her way. He'd bog her down with questions and doubt. He'd want all the information up front when all that Miranda really had was her gut feeling. Shepard knew Miranda. She knew that if Miranda said that she needed to do something on her own, it meant that she didn't want a babysitter to hold her hand. She trusted the Commander to respect her decision.

When this terminal proved to be the same as all the others, Miranda charged up a fist until a fiery blue flame surrounded her knuckles before punching through the terminal and denting the metal desk underneath. A growl clawed through her throat as she shoved everything off of the desk and flipped over a nearby table.

Miranda's chest heaved as she fought for control over her breathing. Pinching her brow, she counted to ten until her anger subsided and her forced calm returned. When her blood pressure dropped back down into a normal range, she allowed a steadying breath to escape through her nose. Just in time too, the vid-comm was alerting her of an incoming call.

Commander Jane Shepard's image flickered to life before her and Miranda could see what James had meant when he said that she was hurting. There were dark circles under her eyes, and her expression was bleak. To anyone else she would have appeared fine, a simple lack of sleep an explanation for her appearance, but Miranda had spent two years rebuilding the woman and another year working beside her. Miranda knew that Shepard wasn't doing well.

"Good to see you're alright, Shepard," she forced a friendly smile onto her lips, knowing that the Commander would only shrug off any outward signs of concern.

Shepard was the one to demonstrate concern, her brows furrowing at the sight of her former crewmate. "Miranda," she said in greeting, "What's going on?"

Straight to business then. She didn't have a problem with that. "Couldn't meet in person." She crossed her arms in front of her chest and rested her weight on a hip, less than eager to get into it with Shepard, but knowing that the Commander would want to know she was safe. "The Citadel is too dangerous right now." Biting the inside of her cheek Miranda hesitated for a moment before saying, "I heard about the attempted coup."

The Commander leaned forward on the railing in front of her with a sigh. "Yeah," she ground her teeth. "With Kai Leng's help, Udina nearly seized control."

"Kai Leng?" That took her back. Kai Leng was the Illusive Man's most trusted operative. He had been closer to the mogul than even Miranda, and that was saying something. He was also a weasely little prick with a loyalty to the 'cause' that she had always found disturbing. "That slippery bastard is still alive?"

Nodding sharply, Shepard answered, "He's alive, and right in the middle of all this."

Her insides twisted and knotted with a culmination of fear, apprehension, anger, and hate. Kai Leng was a problem; like she needed another. "That complicates things. I'll be on my guard." Miranda glared at the terminals surrounding her and sighed. Returning her attention to Shepard she said, "Look, I don't have much time but I learned what happened to my sister."

That captured the Commander's interest, "Where is she?"

Glaring at the empty desks and compromised terminals around her, Miranda answered, "I don't know that yet. But my father was definitely responsible." Her previously banished rage resurfaced with a vengeance and Miranda struggled to shove it back down. "If he's hurt her, I'll kill him."

Shepard's concern was clearly displayed on her features as she said, "Miranda -"

"Shepard," she interrupted before the Commander could say anything to try and stop her. "Shepard, listen; I'm being hunted by Cerberus assassins. A lot of them. I need to stay out of sight."

And now Shepard's concern multiplied. "What?" Miranda could hear the Commander's growing ire with all things Cerberus. "Why?"

"I heard a rumor, maybe more, that my father is working on something with the Illusive Man. Something big."

Shepard arched an eyebrow, curious. "Why would your father be working with the Illusive Man? Especially now."

She wished that she could be as surprised about this news as Shepard looked. In truth she should have known to expect Henry doing something like this. She should have seen it coming. "My father is ruthless about preserving his legacy." She and Oriana were both the result of that "He has an obsession with making his mark in history, ensuring his dynasty lasts forever."

The Commander could see where she was taking this conversation. "And you think the Illusive Man made him an offer."

Miranda nodded once. "Exactly."

Giving her an understanding look, Shepard said, "Whatever is going on with your father can't be good. We have to figure this out."

"I agree, but..." Miranda looked away, breaking Shepard's gaze. "I need to do this myself," she said before returning her attention to the other woman. "It's time I stopped running from him."

Shepard was silent for a second, weighing her options and considering her safety. Miranda knew that the Commander would understand, she had to let her do this on her own. "You're sure?"

"Yes," she exhaled a bit of her pent up frustration. "I can't think straight until I know Ori is safe."

Nodding, Shepard gave Miranda her consent to pursue her instincts. "Be careful."

"I can't promise that, Shepard," to the furrowed look the Commander gave her in return, Miranda challenged, "Could you?"

Shepard thought about it for a second before replying, "No. I couldn't," and pushed herself off of the railing.

Watching the Commander for a moment, Miranda decided that this was the best place to leave their conversation and walked away from the vid-comm terminal; disconnecting from the Commander and returning to the hunt. She was going to find her sister, even if it was the very last thing she did.

-X-

A hot shower had always been James' cure all remedy. It eased his sore muscles after a mission or after not having a good nights sleep. There was something soothing about the burn of the hot water cascading down his muscles, the steam fogging the mirrors and clouding the bathroom. Nothing hit the spot quite like a hot shower did, and he was feeling much better now than he had been fifteen minutes before.

He had decided to grab a shower when he woke up before heading to the mess for a bite to eat. He didn't expect to see anyone at the mess so it surprised him when he saw Garrus sitting on the table, playing with his food instead of eating it. The worry that he must have been feeling right now clouded his features. James knew Lola's state was of great concern for Garrus.

Shepard didn't spend as much time walking around the Normandy like she used to. She was spending more and more time locked up in her quarters, going out only when Hackett was on the vid-comm or for missions. When Lola did show her face she always looked so exhausted now, pale and washed out; she wasn't getting enough sleep. James would be surprised if she was getting any sleep at all. That troubled him too, but James kept his concerns to himself. He figured he would be acting the same way if he was in her shoes... if something happened to Miranda.

"Eh Scars," said James as he walked to the kitchen to grab something to eat. He pulled open the fridge and grabbed some pre-cut fruit and a bottle of water then turned to join Garrus at the empty table. Smirking at the the turian, he teased, "The food has done nothing wrong. Why are you stabbing it?" James sat down opposite of his turian friend, hoping that the joke would rid him of the tension at least a little, but Garrus' features remained tense and his gaze deadly.

"Better the food than someone else. Sadly, I don't think Shepard would appreciate an altercation on her ship." James had spent enough time with Garrus to now recognize his facial expressions. He could see the set to the turian's mandibles, how his brow plates furrowed with anger. Garrus was pissed and James had the feeling it had something to do with the Major.

Garrus was not pleased with the Major being on the ship. James didn't know why, he worked with the Major before and didn't see the problem there. Sure he was constantly showing his mistrust towards Shepard, but he was a good soldier and leader. He was someone Shepard needed on this mission.

"I... guess this has something to do with the Major?" James asked carefully, and it seemed the question stirred something in Garrus; his mandibles twitched and his eyes became even deadlier. James rarely saw this look on Scar's face and he had to admit that right now, he was a little scared of Garrus. He left the question unanswered though, so James decided to press on the matter, hoping that Garrus wouldn't use that fork on him instead. "I noticed that everyone's been a bit on edge since he got back on the ship. Can't imagine why though."

That earned him a deep, humorless chuckle from Garrus as he stabbed into his food a little bit too roughly. "Can't imagine why? There is a very good reason the old Normandy crew is pissed about seeing him back on this ship." Garrus continued to stab the food as he watched him, James flickered his gaze to the massacre on his plate before he locked his eyes with the turian's again. "I should probably fill you in on the details then. Just so that there's no future misunderstanding."

James swallowed hard as Scars readjusted in his seat, the deadly look on his face still present as he spoke, "When Shepard fought against the Collector's she had to assemble a team of trustworthy and capable people. When we bumped into each other I joined her crew without a second thought, just like Thane, Jack, and the rest of her people. But Kaidan... Kaidan had other things in mind." Garrus continued to fidget in his seat, getting himself too riled up to sit still. Tightly grasping the fork in his hand, he started to stab the food again while leering up at James.

"The first time Shepard saw him after two years was on Horizon, a colony in the Terminus System. She, Miranda and I went to intercept the colony before the Collectors could strike; only to bump into the Collector's while they were in the middle of abducting the colonists. We were too late. We fought the Collectors but couldn't save all of the colonists. After the fight, Kaidan shows up; and this is my favorite part-" Garrus' voice rang with sarcasm at the last part, but he didn't give James the time to ask any questions as he continued.

"Instead of joining Shepard's crew, he accused her of betraying the Alliance. He spat the accusations right in her face, even though he claimed to love her. I tried to reason with him but he just kept on with his blabbering about how Cerberus can't be trusted, how Shepard is the Illusive Man's puppet, and so on." Garrus shook his head, his subharmonics vibrating so loudly that James had to rub the gooseflesh from his arms.

"If you had seen her face..." he growled. "She'd been so happy to see him again; she probably thought that they'd be able to pick up where they'd left off, maybe start over, or in the very least that he would understand that she was doing what she had to do. But instead he crushed her. The one man she loved, the one person she thought she could depend on, who she thought would stick to her side through _anything_ broke her heart like it was nothing." Garrus stabbed his food a few more times before spitting out, "So now I hope you understand why the rest of us, Joker included, can't stand him."

James opened his mouth to ask another question, but he was interrupted when Garrus' gaze locked on something behind him. He could hear footsteps so he turned his head slightly around in time to spot the Major walking in and going towards the kitchen.

Once he gathered his food he came to sit down on the far end of the table, far away from Garrus and James. James silently observed the situation as Garrus' deadly gaze bore into the Major, who ignored him as he started picking at his food. The tension was thick in the room and it reminded James of the feeling he had when he stepped onto the battlefield. His gaze flickered from Garrus to Kaidan and back, carefully observing the situation. His muscles were tense in case he would have to separate them.

James saw Kaidan turning his head toward Garrus for the first time since sitting down, his gaze bearing the same note of threat and danger as Garrus'. James couldn't shake the feeling that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, so he returned his attention to the food in front of him. Now he stabbed the food with his fork, his appetite lost thanks to the thick tension and silence in the mess.

He looked at Garrus from underneath his eyelashes and saw the turian was still watching the Major, his expression the same as before. The only thing he noticed was that every few seconds, his mandibles twitched. James guessed it was a reaction similar to the humans tapping their finger or foot nervously.

After what seemed like an eternity has passed in silence, the Major finally spoke. "Garrus," was all he said, before the silence settled in again. James watched Garrus again, waiting anxiously for his reaction.

Garrus readjusted slightly in his seat and brought his hands on the table, his food and fork left forgotten. "Major," he spat, his voice and expression showing his displeasure. James peered at the Major and saw him watching the turian while chewing on his food.

Another second passed and when neither men looked away, Kaidan wondered, "Is there something that you want to say to me, Vakarian?"

His mandibles twitched again. The way he shrugged his shoulders was nonchalant, but the expression twisting his features was deadly. "Only that I'm watching you, Alenko." Even his tone was casual when everything else about him screamed of hostility.

"That so?" Kaidan arched an eyebrow as his brown eyes narrowed with his anger.

Garrus nodded once, a curt and unkind gesture that felt almost like he was flipping the Major the bird. "If you forget for a second whose ship this is, I'll be there to remind you."

Setting his jaw, Kaidan physically wrestled to maintain his neutral expression. "I know whose ship this is," he replied. "I don't need your reminders."

"Good." Garrus started to collect his dishes, his attention on piling his silverware onto the plate as he stated, "You start questioning Shepard's loyalties again, and I'm going to start questioning yours." He stood from his seat and bore his gaze into Kaidan's without moving towards the kitchen, the underlying threat in his voice was clear to everyone as he continued, "And then I'll show you how we handled mutineers in the turian military."

Silence joined them again, thick and heavy enough to need a machete to cut through. The three of them were too caught up in the wordless confrontation that none of them noticed when a fourth party had exited the elevator and joined them in the mess.

"Gentlemen," the sudden sound of the Commander's voice almost made James jump clear out of his skin. He turned to see Shepard watching them closely, her jaw set as she gaged the tension in the room. "Am I interrupting something?"

Garrus finally decided to get his dishes to the sink. Giving Shepard a brief glance he returned his attention to Kaidan as he made his way to the kitchen. "Alenko and I were just having a heart to heart." He set his dishes loudly into the sink, his glare still on Kaidan. "Weren't we, Major?"

Kaidan pulled his lip up in a sneer, which he then disguised as a not-so-friendly smile. "We sure were." His gaze was trained on Garrus as the turian started for the main battery. "It was nice catching up with you, Vakarian."

"I'll be seeing you around, Alenko."

The sound of the main battery doors opening then shutting was the only one for a moment. James looked away from the door to where Shepard stood with her arms crossed. Her attention was on him, her blue eyes demanding an explanation. He couldn't give her one even if he wanted to. Not that he wanted to, James wasn't a snitch. Garrus and the Major were going to work their shit out one way or another; they didn't need for him to be a rat in order to get that ball rolling.

James kept silent, hoping that this would be enough to show her that he didn't want to talk about what happened. He was relieved when she finally looked away with a sigh, turning her gaze to the Major instead.

"Kaidan?" she said his name with caution, as if she was afraid of his reaction.

James averted his gaze to the food in front of him, feeling like he was very out of place at that moment. He wondered if he should just stand up and leave so they could talk. _Yeah, that's probably the best thing to do, _thought James, but before he could stand up and take his leave the Major spoke up.

"Everything is good Commander," his voice was slightly bitter, pained even. But what made James curious was that he called her Commander. _That's because you're here, idiota, _he scolded himself. Again he wanted to stand up and leave, but Shepard's voice glued him back to his seat.

"Talk to me Kaidan." James lifted his gaze again to watch the Commander as she stood there with her arms crossed, the worry clearly written on her face.

"Garrus and I had a little heart to heart, nothing more," his voice lightened up a bit, probably to reassure her that nothing had indeed happened. James lowered his gaze to the food again, and since they decided to ignore him, he would do his best to be invisible to them.

"I know Garrus and his 'heart to heart' conversations, don't lie to me Kaidan." James peered at the Major from the corner of his eyes; he was looking at the food in front of him and stabbed it with his fork.

"Well… I guess I deserve a little grilling, right?" he said. He pushed the chair back roughly and picked up his food before he went to put it down into the sink, refusing to meet her gaze.

"Kaidan," her voice was pleading and weak, and James fidgeted in his seat at the sound of it, "I'm sorry."

The Major just smiled weakly and shook his head as he approached her, "Don't worry about it, Commander… it's fine." Then he took his leave from the mess, leaving a very sad Shepard and a very stunned James behind. He was still shocked as he watched Shepard approach the kitchen to grab a mug of coffee before taking the seat Garrus had sat in a while ago. She put the mug of coffee on the table and buried her face in her hands with a groan.

James shifted awkwardly again as he resumed stabbing his food, "Everything alright, Lola?"

Sighing, she cupped the mug of coffee before her as she gave her entire focus to James. "Just perfect, James. Couldn't be better. We're in the middle of a war with an unbeatable race of machines that is thousands upon thousands of years old. In order for me to get anything done I have to wade through everyone's bullshit, since apparently now is the best time for everyone to start fucking each other over. Everyone that I care about seems to be dropping like flies, and now there's in-crew fighting on my goddamn ship. So yeah; everything is just fucking great." Her voice rang with worry first, then the worry turned into sarcasm and anger.

Lola buried her fingers in her hair and hid her face in her hands. There was little more than he could do than just sit there and stare at her. The strong, undefeatable, facade she put up was cracking. He could see it in her eyes, Shepard's protective armor was chipping away; leaving behind the vulnerable, imperfect, _human_ woman underneath. James would have been lying if he said it wasn't a little bit terrifying. The entire galaxy's survival depended on this woman, and she was starting to fall to pieces from the weight of it all.

The distressed sound of her sigh pulled James from his thoughts. "Sorry, Vega." She rubbed her eyes and said past gritted teeth, "It's just..." after a second she tore her hands from her face and returned them to the abandoned mug on the table. Bringing the cup of coffee to her lips, she took a sip and a calming breath and her indestructible mask was back in its place. "Anyway. Is everything okay with Miranda?"

He frowned a little, not really understanding the purpose of the question. "As far as I know," he answered with a shrug.

Shepard nodded slowly, tapping the sides of the mug with her fingers. "Any word on her sister yet?"

"Oriana?" He had read about the youngest Lawson sister on the datapad Liara had gave him. Unfortunately that was really the only information he had on the girl. To his disappointment he and Miranda hadn't really ventured down such personal topics over their messages to one another. His expression furrowing, James asked, "What's wrong with Oriana?"

"You know," the words slipped slowly, almost cautiously out of Lola's mouth; as if the conversation they were now having was unsure footing. "She's missing."

All James could do was stare. After several mind clearing blinks he asked, "What?"

Burrowing her face in her hands again, Shepard's voice sounded from the cracks in her fingers as she realized, "You didn't know." When she showed her face again it was with the explanation, "I just assumed that she'd told you."

Apparently no, she hadn't told him. James was floundering in the dark; the least Lola could do was throw him a lifeline. "Told me what," he tried to calm his tone so it didn't sound as demanding as he felt. "What's going on with Oriana?"

"She's missing," Lola finally supplied. "Miranda hasn't been able to find her anywhere and she thinks that her father abducted her."

His stomach fell. They might not have talked about family in detail, but James didn't need to know the backstory to know that Oriana was the only thing that mattered to Miranda. And if her sister was missing, without a trace, that meant that Miranda was probably sick with worry. James didn't know where they stood with one another, what their relationship could be called other than flirtatious repartee, but he did know that if Oriana was missing then Miranda wasn't okay. She was probably losing it she was so worried, and he felt like he had a responsibility to be there for her. Call it misguided, but instinct was telling him to go to her and he trusted his instinct.

Standing from his seat, James picked his plate off of the table and said, "If you'll excuse me, Commander," as he moved toward the kitchen.

She watched him move from the table to the sink, the smirk on her face was visibly forced but an improvement from the hapless tint to her blue eyes. "Going to save the day, Vega?"

James returned her smirk with one of his own. "Nah, Lola. I'm just going to try and be there for her."

_Mhm_, she hummed as he strode past her toward the elevator. "Remember that there's no sex like safe sex."

He fought the smile from his lips and shook his head. "I'll try to remember that." His steps picked up in pace as he tried to flee from whatever else might come out of her mouth. He wasn't fast enough.

Shepard's teasing voice followed him as he stepped into the elevator. "Wrap it before you tap it, Jimbo," she shouted before the elevator doors closed and shut out whatever other sexual advice could follow.

As the doors closed in front of him he let the smile surface on his lips before banishing it completely. It was nice to have the playful Shepard back, even if it was forced and only lasted for a second. Shaking his head he pushed away all thoughts that weren't about Miranda and tapped his foot as he waited for the elevator to descend all the way to the cargo hold.

There were plenty of places that he could make the call from, but almost none of them offered him any privacy. James wasn't trying to hide anything, but broadcasting his would-be relationship -he still didn't know if he could even call it that- to the entire ship wasn't something he was in a hurry to do. He would never hear the end of it.

The elevator door parted with a swish and James stepped out into the cargo hold. Cortez was working on the Kodiak, a personal project he was becoming consumed by; and that was the very vessel that James currently needed.

"Yo, Esteban," he shouted, startling the other man as he approached the shuttle. "You think you could go twiddle around with another project for a little while?"

Cortez gave him a concerned look. "Why?" he wondered, uncertainty in his strange blue eyes. "Are you going to take her out on another joy ride, Vega?"

"I might," he teased, but wasn't sure yet whether or not he was joking. "Just, give me a minute with her, okay?"

"James," the tone of Cortez's voice was mildly scolding. "You want to tell me what's going on?"

James shook his head. "Not particularly," he answered and tried to give the other man a placating smile. "Look, Cortez, I just need to make a call and I'd like some privacy. That's all."

Cortez stared at James for a second, quietly considering the pros and cons of loaning out his precious shuttle. After he came to a decision, he let out a defeated sigh and said, "Fine, Vega. But if you're going in there to go on the extranet and look at -"

"_Madre de dios, pendejo,_" James cursed. "What kind of man do you take me for, Esteban?"

Lifting his hands in self defence, Cortez smiled and shrugged. "I'm just making sure we're on the same page." Nodding at James, he gestured for him to do whatever he had to do. "She's yours for as long as you need her."

He gave Cortez a curt nod before stepping on board the Kodiak and walking over to the pilot's seat. Settling into the leather chair, James felt a little uncomfortable sitting in Cortez's seat. It felt wrong, lived in, like he was breaking into another man's home and sleeping with his wife. Shaking the irrelevant thoughts from his mind, James turned on the comm terminal and sent out a request to connect with Miranda.

It took a little while, but after some time Miranda appeared on the screen; obviously not expecting for it to be James on the other end of the call. _"Evening Shep- James?"_

"Hey," he plastered on the most charming smirk he had in his arsenal.

She blinked twice, stunned for a moment before she collected herself and her usual frown pulled her features. _"James, why are you calling me?"_

"I wanted to make sure you're okay," he said, it was the truth, not the entire truth but the truth no less.

Sighing she rubbed her eyes and groaned, _"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you. Is that all?"_

"No," his smile grew before waning just a little. She wasn't going to like him breaching this next topic. "So..." was he sweating? "About your sister..."

That caught her attention. Miranda's gaze snapped up to his. _"What about my sister?"_ she growled.

"Shepard let it slip that she's missing, and that you think your father took her."

Her jaw fell incredulously before snapping her mouth shut and narrowing her eyes. _"She let all of that slip, huh?" _

James held up his hands in surrender. "She volunteered the information, I didn't even have to put on my serious face."

Rolling her eyes Miranda replied, _"I'd like to see that face for once."_

_Okay_, he thought, wiping the mirth off of his features and demonstrating to her that he really did take the situation seriously. "I know that your sister means the world to you. It can't be easy not knowing where she is or if she's okay."

Miranda set her jaw and for a moment James thought that she wouldn't give him the benefit of a reply; but to his surprise she said, _"It's not. But I'm going to find her."_

"I know you will," his tone was soothing, careful to not agitate her and send her running. "I'd like to be there for you."

Misunderstanding she nodded, _"I appreciate your support."_

"No," he corrected. "I mean actually be _there_ for you. I'd like to know where you are so that you won't be alone through this."

Surprise shone obviously in her features as she gaped at him. After a second she blinked and trained her expression back to its cold and emotionless appearance. _"That won't be necessary, James."_

"I think it is," he argued.

"_I assure you it isn't,"_ she bit out. _"If I tell you where I am, that'll compromise my position. I have enough to deal with at the moment. Fighting a fleet of Cerberus assassins isn't exactly at the top of my to do list this very second. So I appreciate your concern, but the best thing you could do for me right now is leave me alone."_

James shook his head. "I'm afraid I can't do that, Miss Lawson."

"_Try,"_ she ordered with a displeased set to her brows.

"You're a strong, beautiful, incredible woman," he cleared his throat when he realized he was letting himself get carried away. "But not even you can go through everything alone, especially not this. Let me be there for you."

She stared at him, and James thought that she might actually give in and tell him where she was. But his hopes were crushed when she shook her head, dismissing the thought, and narrowed her eyes. _"I've got a handle on this, James. Please, just... drop it. I'm fine, I'll be fine, I've got everything under control."_ She ran her fingers through her hair, a gesture he noticed she did a lot when she was nervous or agitated. _"I've got a lot of work to do, so it was nice talking to you; but I have to go."_

"Miranda -"

"_Goodnight, James,"_ the screen turned black and her image vanished. He was left there staring at the shuttle's control panel, grinding his teeth as he considered his options. James could either sit back and wait for Miranda to figure out what was going on and find her sister, leaving him at the sidelines like an idiot. Or, he could take the initiative and go to Miranda anyway, despite her desires and instructions for him to stay away.

It didn't demand much thought. James knew what he had to do. Sitting around twiddling his thumbs wasn't something that he did. Miranda needed him there, whether she knew it or not. And if he showed up on her doorstep it wasn't like she could just send him away.

Shoving out from the seat, James left the shuttle and headed for his locker. First he was going to grab the bottle of wine and a change of clothes, then he was going to beg Liara to help him pinpoint Miranda's exact location. He was going to owe the doctor a favor; he'd find a way to make it up to her eventually. Right now the only person that really mattered was Miranda, and he was going to show her that.

* * *

**A/N: Lol, don't be mad at us for picking at Kaidan a little. He deserves it after Horizon, just a little ;-)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Warning; steamy chapter ehehehe ;-)**

* * *

Sighing, she glanced down at her omni-tool for the hundredth time. It had been hours since she'd hung up on James, and it was the last time they'd spoken. Miranda hadn't received a single message from the marine, not so much as a '_hey'_; and she tried not to feel so disappointed by that fact. This was what she'd wanted after all, wasn't it? For him to leave her alone; finally he'd gotten the message, and now Miranda felt more lost then she had been before.

She hid her face in her hands as she leaned her elbows on her knees, letting out a long exhausted breath. She knew she shouldn't have hung up on him like that, but he wouldn't respect her decision no matter how much she told him he should leave her alone. She felt guilty for doing so, but what choice did she have?

In truth, she wasn't fine, but she needed to be alone so she could think about the possible places her father could've taken her little sister. Oriana was in danger, so was Miranda, but she didn't care about her own safety nearly as much as she did when it came to Oriana's safety. Oriana was always more important than her; if she had to die to save her sister, she would gladly do so. That was why she didn't want James to interfere, he would try to help her, and what disturbed her the most was that he could get himself hurt in the process; even killed. She shook her head to banish the thought, part of her angry at herself for even caring.

There was another reason she didn't want him here; James was a distraction. He would flirt with her, annoy her in that cute way of his, make her laugh and what's worse, he would make her forget the fact that she had to save her little sister. As much as she needed a distraction right about now, she had to keep her head in the game; otherwise the consequences would be severe.

She stood up from the couch she was sitting on and went to sit down at her desk to comb through her list of contacts again. She had to find someone who could give her information about her father, where he was and what he was planning. Even as she flicked through name after name she could feel her stomach fall with each contact passed. Her typically overflowing well of informants and information was running dry. And to top it all off, Kai Leng was now back in the game, which made things more difficult for Miranda; he was the Illusive Man's most trusted agent and there was no doubt he would send Leng after her, which meant she had to be on her guard, more than she already was.

Weariness started to settle into her eyes as she rifled through the list again. Rubbing her eyes, she fought off the darkness that threatened to settle into her bones. The black of depression was upon her like second skin, whispering dark truths into her soul. _You'll never find her_, it said, _you've lost her for good and you have only yourself to blame. You're a failure. You're a mistake._ Shaking her head, she exorcised the thought from her mind. She _would_ find her sister. Nothing and no one in the entire galaxy was going to stop her from finding Oriana.

Miranda yawned and stretched her arms above her head as exhaustion slowly settled in, but she knew that the moment she laid down sleep would evade her. She hadn't been sleeping properly for days and it was starting to show on her features. She looked as tired as she felt, dark circles formed under her eyes and her skin seemed even paler now. She hated what she saw in the mirror, but the circumstances didn't allow her to rest.

She took a sip from the forgotten coffee on her desk, relieved that it was still warm, as she continued to consider where she should start searching for her father when suddenly she heard something suspicious coming from the door. The apartment she was renting wasn't in the classiest of neighborhoods, they'd accepted her false identity without second thought or background check, but it also wasn't so sketchy as to have burglars breaking in at all hours of the night. So when she heard a sound coming from the hallway just outside her door her senses sharpened and her muscles tensed.

Slowly and as silently as possible, she stood up from her seat and approached the door, her biotics already flaring slightly along her skin. When she came close enough to the door, she saw the lock glowing in a mix of orange and green. Someone wanted to hack her lock and break into her apartment.

Miranda smirked as she decided to make whoever the idiot was on the other side of that door regret choosing her apartment to break into. She gracefully crossed the distance between her desk and the door before she entered the password to unlock the door, her biotics fully ready and her muscles tense.

Once the door slid open, she managed to steal a quick glance at the intruder before she sent him flying across the hallway with a heavy biotic throw. She recognized it was a man, but she noticed his casual clothes before she could identify her would-be intruder. No one could be _that_ stupid to break into her apartment in little more than a black leather jacket and dark blue jeans.

The man slowly lifted himself off of the floor, shaking his head and murmuring something in Spanish. _Wait,_ Miranda thought, _Spanish?!_ Then it hit her as she finally recognized the man. Her heart started to race and her eyes widened in surprise when James uncovered his face with his hand to make sure his jaw was still aligned, slowly sitting up from the floor, still cursing in Spanish.

"James?" Worry clouded the rational part of her mind, urging her to go to him and make sure that he was alright. She took a step in his direction, out of her apartment and into the hall, before she forced herself to stop once she was close enough to tell he was fine. Crossing her arms in front of her chest, she glared down angrily at him, even as her mind screamed at her to just kneel down next to him and see if she'd hurt him.

"What were you thinking?!" Her voice was scolding and harsh.

It was then that James lifted his face up to meet her gaze, but instead of showing the pain he must've been feeling, he smirked. Miranda hated that smirk, even though part of her also loved it.

"Hello Miranda," he said casually as he stood up, fixing the duffle bag strapped across his chest and trying his best not to grimace in pain. He had hit the floor hard, face first; now she felt bad for attacking without at least seeing who her victim was.

His reply only fueled the frustration she felt. "I could've killed you without even knowing it's you!" She did her best to keep from showing her emotions, and she was failing; the worry and fear she felt for hurting him snuck into her voice and posture despite her best efforts to keep them at bay.

"Yeah," he agreed with an impressed laugh. Winking playfully he added, "Luckily it was me at your door and not some lesser man.".

Miranda had to fight the urge to roll her eyes at his statement, but she couldn't fight the tiny smile that lit up her face as she looked away. Inhaling deeply she allowed her cold demeanor to return as she bore her most displeased glare into him, the anger she felt towards him slowly settling back into place. "And what are you doing here in the first place? I told you I'm fine and that I want to be alone!"

James didn't so much as flinch from her tone or expression. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and shrugged. "And I told you that that's not going to happen. I want to be here for you and help you as best I can." The look he gave her was uncompromising and he brushed past her into the apartment. There was little more Miranda could do than glare into the back of his head as she followed him into her temporary home.

-X-

She was not fine. All it took was one look at her and James knew that she was standing on the brink with no one to talk her down. She wanted to be alone, but he knew that that was the last thing she needed. Miranda might have been too proud to admit it, but the truth of the matter was that she needed him here; and he was more than happy to oblige.

The apartment was small, barely a living room with an attached kitchen and dining room, and down the short hallway was where James assumed the bedroom and bathroom were located. The layout was easy, and all he really needed was right in front of him anyway. He strode into the kitchen and started to unload some things from his bag, starting with the bottle of wine.

He glanced at Miranda as she gaped at him, obviously too surprised to articulate a proper interrogation to find out what he was doing. That was fine, he liked knowing he had some kind of effect on her; at least enough to shut her up. He smirked as he considered what else he might be able to do to quiet little miss perfect.

She crossed her arms in front of her chest and watched him silently as he finished taking out the small grocery items he had brought along with him. He moved toward the sink and turned on the water. As he washed his hands he met Miranda's gaze and wondered, "What?" only for her to furrow her brows in annoyance.

"What are you doing in my kitchen?" She bit out the words like she meant for them to send him packing. To prove that she was going to have to try much harder than that, he just smirked and dried his hands on the nearby wash cloth.

"I'm going to cook; and you are going to sit that sweet ass of yours down and enjoy this wine I bought." He placed the bottle in front of her before turning to her cabinets, pulling the doors open as he searched for the wine glasses.

A defeated sigh sounded from behind him before she spoke up. "Top shelf on the far left," Miranda instructed and gave him a small smile when he found the glasses, grabbed two, and placed them on the counter in front of her.

She sighed again before settling into one of the bar stools and picking up the bottle of wine. James watched her closely as she inspected the label, admiring her bone structure as he leaned his weight on the counter. Glancing up at him, the corners of her mouth tugged even further as her smile grew. "The same wine from our date?"

James nodded, allowing a victorious smile to expand across his face. "So it _was_ a date?" he teased, knowing it would make her roll her eyes.

She rolled her eyes and shook her head before pointing to one of the drawers behind him. "Knives are in the middle drawer, and grab me the corkscrew while you're in there."

"Ma'am yes, ma'am," he joked as he did as he was told. James pulled open the drawer and immediately found the corkscrew, but the only knives in sight were the kind that couldn't even cut through bread. As he handed her the corkscrew, he asked, "Butter knives? What exactly do you expect me to do with a butter knife?"

Miranda accepted the corkscrew without so much as a thank you and, as she started to open the wine bottle, she grunted, "I don't know, why don't _you_ tell _me_, mister '_I can cook enough for the both of us_'." When the cork was out she made a victorious noise and started to pour the wine into each glass. "I told you that I can't cook; and pots and pans are a pain to pack when you're in a hurry."

Accepting the wine glass she offered him with a smile, James made sure to touch her fingers with his as he took the glass from her. He had intended for it to stir her up, to unsettle her and make her aware of him; what he foolishly hadn't been expecting was for it to backfire and for him to have such an intense reaction to her. James felt his entire body wake up as their skin made contact, his eyes dialated and his senses sharpened. He was suddenly very aware of the woman seated across the counter.

Her eyes fluttered, almost nervously, and James remembered that they were in the middle of a conversation. Clearing his throat he tried to recall what had last been said, it took a second but he figured it out. "Yeah, uh..." he rubbed the back of his neck. "So, if you don't cook what do you usually eat?"

"You're looking at it, Lieutenant." She lifted her wine glass and smiled softly as she continued. "When I find time to eat, it's usually take out."

Looking down at the ingredients laid out on the countertop, he wondered "What am I supposed to do with all of this?"

Miranda shrugged, the slight twist of her lips turned teasing. "I didn't tell you to drop by unannounced. This is your surprise, James, you should have thought it through."

He gave her a playfully serious look before gathering the food and tossing it into the refrigerator. "Alright," he said as he returned his attention to her. "How about some take out then?"

Her smile grew. "You read my mind." Waving on her omni-tool she wondered, "What are you feeling?"

_I wish I was feeling you,_ James thought as he admired how the orange glow of the omni-tool defined the arches and planes of her features, how it colored her lily white skin. When she glanced up expectantly at him, he blinked and answered, "Uh, how about Italian?"

The small smile that inched across her lips was approving. "Italian it is, any dish in particular?"

"Surprise me," he said with a smile.

She placed the order and returned her attention to him. Miranda was watching him curiously as he brought the wine glass up to his mouth and took a sip. Taking a drink from her own glass, she observed, "I thought you were more of a whisky drinker."

"I am," he said with a smile, elated that she'd been paying attention. "I don't typically drink wine, but I'm curious."

"About?"

A teasing smirk twisted the side of his mouth as he answered, "If this wine will have the same effect on me as it has on you."

The roll of her eyes was of forced annoyance, but the slight smile hinting at the edges of her lips gave away her amusement. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Come on," James goaded her, playfully pushing whatever buttons he could find. "Admit it. Wine makes you a little fuzzy."

She narrowed her eyes at him, the purse of her lips couldn't hide the smile hiding just underneath. "I'll admit no such thing." As if to prove him wrong she took another long sip from her glass and insisted, "I do _not_ get fuzzy."

"Yes you do," he grinned at her. "I bet you couldn't drink half this bottle without getting giggly."

Miranda crossed her arms defiantly. "You actually think you could _ever_ make me giggle?"

Lifting his glass to her, he replied, "Here's to hoping," and winked at her before taking a sip.

Her arctic blue eyes narrowed at him and the smile he'd managed to bring to her lips fell a little. "This isn't a date, James. What we did before wasn't a date either."

She'd admitted that it was a date earlier; she couldn't cover up that statement now with half-hearted denials. There were no take-backs when it came to their romantic standing. James rolled his eyes at her for even trying. "You can deny it all you want, but you know as well as I do that this, _mi corazon_, is a date; just like our last one."

Staring at him for a moment, she visibly searched for a good enough argument when she asked, "Do you really consider what we had a date?"

"Yeah," he responded with a shrug.

Miranda crossed her arms on the countertop in front of her and leaned her weight forward. "If I remember correctly," she started, a teasing smirk twitching at the corner of her mouth. "There was no candle light, no romantic music in the background, no staring into each other's eyes as we ate..."

He held her gaze, losing himself in the twin pools of endless blue. James outdid her teasing smirk with one of his own. "I never would have pegged you as such a romantic, Miranda."

Her eyes fluttered and she broke their locked gaze. Taking another sip from her glass, she tried to hide her blushing complexion from him but James could see right through her. She was adorable when she blushed.

"I'm not," she disputed.

Without wiping his smirk from his lips, James stated, "I should've brought candles."

Miranda returned her attention to him, the smirk back on her lips as she countered, "You should've brought cooking ware too, but you didn't."

"You're not making this easy on me," he joked, "You know that?"

With a shrug she replied, "Do I ever?"

Noticing that her glass was empty, James picked up the bottle and refilled her cup. "Here, Miss Lawson." He poured more wine into his own glass as well. Smiling up at her, he teased, "Maybe I'll hear you giggle after all."

She smiled as she returned the glass to her full lips and took a sip. As she swallowed the wine, Miranda's smile slipped away to be replaced by sobered, somber expression. Sliding off of the barstool, she muttered, "You shouldn't have come," and strode into the living room.

Miranda kept her back to him as she gazed into the deep, rich purple of her sweet tasting wine. He had done it, just like she knew he would. It had taken a total of sixty seconds and James had made her forget. Oriana was missing, in danger, and Miranda had _forgotten_. Of course the severity of her sister's situation could never be completely erased from her mind, but to forget for even a second that Oriana's safety took precedence over everything, over _everyone_, it was unacceptable. Of course James would be the first one to disagree with her.

She could feel him moving behind her, stepping out of the small kitchen and into the small living room. "I think this is exactly what you needed." He was standing behind her now, maybe a foot away.

Without glancing back at him, Miranda fled out of arm's reach and took a seat on the sofa. She set her wine glass on the coffee table in front of her and leaned back. Rubbing her eyes she said with a sigh, "No, what I need is to find my sister." She tore her face from her hands and bore an angry look into James, not caring whether or not he deserved her ire. "I can't afford to be distracted; _Oriana_ can't afford for me to be distracted, and you are a distraction."

Uncomfortable, James shifted on his feet a little before moving to sit beside her on the sofa and setting his glass on the coffee table. He turned his body to face hers and held her gaze as he tried to talk to her. "You are going to kill yourself worrying like this; and then what good will you be to Oriana?"

When Miranda didn't answer him he moved a little so that she would look at him and hold his gaze. The hazel of his eyes shone clearly under the light of her apartment, and they were warm yet firm as he regarded her. Seeing a serious expression on James' face was what Miranda imagined seeing Halley's Comet was like, back on Earth; rare and awe inspiring.

"I'm sorry, Miranda," and he did look genuinely sorry for what he was about to say next. "but your sister is still going to be missing whether or not I came tonight."

She set her jaw, his words ringing with enough truth to make her furious. Before she could argue with him, James lifted a steadying hand, wordlessly requesting that she let him finish. "Are you or are you not doing absolutely everything in your power to find your sister?"

Miranda looked at James, begrudging him for making her talk about this. Tearing her eyes from him, she grumbled, "I am."

"Then give yourself a break," she returned her gaze to him at the pleading tone of his voice. James was concerned for her, his worry etched openly along his features as he regarded her. Offering her a small, reassuring smile he said, "Oriana will understand if you let yourself be distracted for _one_ night." When she didn't reply his sympathizing expression turned entreating, "I'm already here, Miranda; and I'm not going anywhere."

Watching him closely, Miranda felt herself start to give into his request. She felt the tension start to leave her muscles, and her worry move towards the back burner as a part of her demanded to at least enjoy the moment for as long as it lasted. Shaking her head, she purged the urge from her mind. Oriana was missing now because Miranda had relaxed, because she had allowed herself to enjoy the moment. Miranda couldn't allow herself to forget. She needed to find her sister.

"I can't," she argued, shaking her head again. "Oriana -"

"Is going to be fine," he finished for her. "You are going to find her and you are going to bring her home, and everything is going to work out because you are Miranda Lawson, and assault rifles aren't the biggest, most powerful things you can handle."

She bit back her smile, trying very hard to hold on to her argument. "She's my sister, James," she tried again to make him understand her position.

"I know she is," he replied, implying that he did understand.

"I need to find her," she insisted.

James nodded. "You will," he repeated. Placing a hand on her knee, he countered, "Right now, though, what you _need_ is to relax." He stood from the sofa and circled around until he was standing behind her.

Looking over her shoulder, she gave him a confused look and wondered, "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to help you relax," he answered, placing his hands on her shoulders.

Miranda opened her mouth to protest the same second that he started to rub her shoulders and all that came out was an appreciative moan. In was a discombobulating upheaval of emotion unearthing all at once. Her stomach fluttered the same time that her chest tightened, both in reaction to his touch. She tensed even more as he worked on her shoulders, knowing that she needed him to stop, repeating to herself that she couldn't let this happen; but she couldn't bring the words out of her mouth, she couldn't even move out from under his grasp. Miranda was James' prisoner for as long as he used those magic hands to unknot the stress accumulated in her muscles.

The soft tenor of his voice resonated in the air behind her as James whispered, "Relax."

Relax. She almost laughed. How was she supposed to relax with him touching her like that? All Miranda could think about was his strong hands on her shoulders, touching her, feeling her. She was suddenly very aware of James, alert to his every breath, to the very smell of him. James was a big man, muscular and powerful with a smirk that could turn even her knees into rubber. If she relaxed now she'd be defenseless against him, and suddenly Miranda felt as though she needed all of the defences she could muster in order to keep this encounter platonic.

Just as she decided to finally voice her disapproval, James buried his thumbs into the tight muscles in between her shoulders. A loud groan escaped Miranda at the pleasure pain of him loosening the muscle. Exhaling what little remained of her reservations, Miranda decided, _to hell with it_, and allowed herself to relax into James' sure and knowing hands. She'd resisted him for as long as she could, and couldn't resist for a moment longer.

-X-

He felt it the second Miranda finally let go. She fell back into his grasp and turned into putty in his hands. James couldn't help but admire her body as he rubbed the tension out of her shoulders and back. Miranda was strong, her muscles toned and firm as if they were carved out of marble. Her physique was something to behold. Even dressed as she was James could tell that her body was a devastating thing, made sexier by the fact that _she_ was devastating; a force unto herself against any enemy. She was a goddess deserving of praise, and James wanted to praise her again and again all night long.

Distracted by his wandering thoughts, he noticed too late when a lock of her hair got trapped under his finger and was tugged as he rubbed her back. Hissing a bit at the sudden hair pull, Miranda reached around and moved her hair, revealing her neck to him as she draped it over a shoulder to clear his workspace.

James' jaw fell unhinged at the sight of her porcelain neck. His mouth stung as it watered, his blood heating up with each sharp intake of breath. He felt like he was on fire and it took nearly all of his self control to not squeeze her shoulders at the intensity of his reaction to her. Looking longingly at her exposed neck, he was admittedly distracted from his task as he wondered what it would feel like to brush his lips across that smooth white skin.

The thought was enrapturing, all consuming. James was desperate to know if her skin was as soft as it looked, if it was as warm as he imagined. Her long, elegant neck was beckoning him, inviting him to have a taste and it was only his respect for the woman in his grasp that kept him from acting on impulse.

_How would she react,_ he wondered. Would she slap him? Demand for him to leave? Would he be able to? Would James have the strength to stop once he started, to refuse himself another taste? It was too much. He couldn't keep resisting this nagging itch to kiss her neck, if he continued it would be the death of him. Throwing his reservations to the wind, James decided to find the answers to his questions.

He dipped down, the heat of his breath caressing her surface before he brushed his lips against her neck. The feeling was so invigorating that he had to close his eyes to truly enjoy it. She was as soft as he imagined, softer actually, warmer, more enticing than anything he could have ever dreamed up.

James hovered there for a moment, anticipating her reaction, waiting for her to slap him into next week. It was to his complete surprise when her only reaction was the slightest tilt of her head, exposing more of her neck to him, wordlessly inviting him to continue. It was all the affirmation James needed. He brought his lips back down to her neck and kissed them again, harder this time, his ferocity starting to match his desire for her.

His hands were still on her shoulders, and he ran one up the incline of her neck to her jaw line. With only the slightest bit of pressure, he tilted her head some more and dared to taste her. Her skin was warm against his tongue, her pulse beating against his mouth like a war drum. Unable to help himself, James scraped his teeth along the arch of her neck, and earned a low and sensual moan.

"James," she whispered his name and it was enough to ignite a wildfire just under his surface. His desire for her transformed into a need. She was oxygen, without her his flame would die out. He would die if he didn't get to explore the rest of her.

His name spilled from her lips again, "James," a pleading and cautious sound.

Afraid that he was upsetting her, James released her from his hold. Without moving from his place behind her, he breathed his reply against her neck, goosebumps peeking in wake of his departure. "Yes?" he replied.

Miranda turned around on the sofa, kneeling in front of him as she held his gaze. He recognized that look in her eyes. Never in his wildest fantasies had he imagined himself actually receiving it from her. She wanted him. There was an ache in those deep pools of blue, a need that only he could satisfy. There was also fear, he recognised her hesitation. Miranda wanted this, but she was afraid of what might come of it. If James took too long to think he might have been afraid too, but his need for her ran too deeply for him to think about anything else.

He kissed her. Cupping her face in his hands he brought his lips down to hers and kissed her, unabashed to show her how much he wanted her that very second, how much he needed her, all of her. His tongue snaked out, sliding against her lips as he demanded entrance. Her lips parted and he plunged into the wet warmth of her mouth, his hands exploring her body as surely as his tongue danced with hers.

Feeling up her curves, from her waist to her shoulder blades, James pressed her body against him. He needed to feel her closeness, he needed to feel her warmth. He needed her. Just as his neck started to get uncomfortable from craning down to kiss her, Miranda moved on the couch. She didn't detach her lips from his as she stood on the cushions and draped her leg over the sofa's back. James held on to her as she moved, too lost to their kiss to break it for even a second.

Now seated along the back of the sofa, Miranda was at a more comfortable level with him. He could touch all of her this way, feel all of her. He pressed her body against his again, his hands surveying her body, marking every curve, remembering every dip and plane. A groan rumbled through him as she wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing him closer still, and spread her legs so that he would fit so perfectly between them.

He couldn't stand it, not for another second. James needed to see her lily white flesh. He needed to feel her heat against his skin without the intrusion of clothing and fabric. Just as James grabbed a fistfull of the hem of her shirt, his moment of bravado was interrupted by the chime of the doorbell.

Releasing his hold of her shirt, James peeled his lips from Miranda's and pressed his forehead against hers. They stood like that for a moment, their heavy exhales intermingling as they tried to catch their breath. Forcing a smirk to curl the corner of his mouth, James joked, "Saved by the bell," to hide his annoyance and devastation over the interruption.

He took a reluctant step away from Miranda when the delivery person knocked impatiently on the door. Biting back his disappointment James moved to go answer the door. The moment was lost now, and he wasn't sure if he'd ever get it back. Sighing in defeat, he supposed he should count himself lucky that it had happened in the first place. Now he had to think of something to get rid of his throbbing -

"Delivery," the short volus announced as James opened the door.

-X-

'_Saved by the bell_', she couldn't disagree more. Her heart was pounding against her chest, throttling fists against her rib cage. The blood in her veins felt hot enough to mold metal, and there was this intense, unimaginable need inside of her; a need for James. She felt as though she would explode if she didn't have him, if she didn't taste him and feel him against her.

She bit her lip as she watched him accept the food from the volus delivery boy, his tone flat and bitter. James was as disappointed as she was that their moment had been ruined; but Miranda refused for that to be the end of it. Against her better judgement, she wanted more. She _needed_ more. Her better judgment had abandoned her the moment James had grabbed the hem of her shirt, making her heart race like a stampede of wild broncos.

Now it was all she could think about. She couldn't even smell the food, had no interest in how it tasted. What Miranda wanted was James, and she wanted him now. She moved from the sofa until she was standing behind him, her gaze imprinting to memory the excellence of his physique, the mouthwatering shape of his muscle structure as she wondered how he would look on top of her.

"Yeah," James' irritated voice replied to the volus' goodnight. "_Gracias, pendejo._" He turned around and stopped, surprised by her proximity.

They stared at one another for a moment, looking into each other's eyes as they both acknowledged the very insistent, very real need for one another. Without caring to hold herself back, Miranda grabbed James by the face and brought his mouth back down to hers.

He made a surprised sound before dropping the bag of food on the floor, wrapping his arms around her and returning her kiss tit-for-tat. As he dragged his hands down her waist, Miranda jumped into his arms and wrapped her legs around him. James had a tight grip on her ass, happily holding her up as she felt his desire for her press against her.

A gasp tore through her as James buried his face in her neck, he pushed her up against the wall. pressing himself against her as he held up her ass in his strong grasp. She scraped her nails into his back, pulling up his shirt with a growl.

Miranda felt like a primal animal, base instinct the only one she knew, her need for him was the only truth in this universe that was of any consequence. She rubbed herself against him, feeling the stress of his erection against his blue jeans rubbing through the fine fabric of her bottoms. Another growl sounded from her in frustration at how over dressed they both were.

He released his hold on her when she bucked, letting her legs fall from around his waist. James still had her backed up against the wall, the sheer magnitude of his size surrounding her as if she were caught in the shadow of a mountain. Without removing his hooded gaze from hers, James peeled off his shirt.

Biting her lip, Miranda admired the shape of his chest, how strong his pectoral muscles looked, the thick ropes of his abdominals, the power that radiated off of him in waves. She reached out slowly, wanting to trace the thick lines of his tattoos, his warrior markings. She didn't even realize she was holding her breath until her fingers brushed over the scalding hot surface of his skin. Her breath hitched in her throat, caught behind some foreign emotion she shoved to the back of her mind to be mulled over later. Now there was only James. Now there was only need.

She watched her fingers as they traced the shape of his chest up to his neck. Glancing up from her wandering hands, Miranda met his heated gaze and felt like she couldn't breathe. The absence of his mouth against hers was suffocating her.

As if he had read her mind, James reclaimed her mouth with his. He pressed her back against the wall, pinning her there as if to assert his dominance over her. Miranda sucked his lip between her teeth and tugged. Running her hands up his torso, she felt every muscle, every cleft and dip, every inch of his steel-encased-by-silk build, until her hands were on his broad chest. Without warning, Miranda shoved him off of her.

Since he hadn't been expecting her attack, James was pushed back several feet before he skidded to a halt. He hadn't lost his footing; Miranda was impressed. She gave him a challenging look, arching an eyebrow as she made it clear that if he wanted dominance he was going to have to take it.

The corner of his mouth twitched. He accepted her challenge. James came at her like she knew he would, head strong and overconfident. Miranda dipped under his outstretched hand and turned, slowly walking backwards toward the bedroom. James turned to face her, a wolfish smile on his lips, as though it was he who had predicted her move and not the other way around.

As James stalked in her direction Miranda realized that that was exactly what had just happened. She could feel her heart in her throat, beating out of her chest in every direction. Too lost to the predatory look in his hazel eyes, Miranda forgot her footing and almost tripped over her own feet; only to be caught by James who pulled her back into his arms.

He pressed her against his chest, claiming her, possessing her. James explored the inside of her mouth with his talented tongue as he led her backwards toward the bedroom. When she tried to turn, to move out from under his assertive control, James held her fiercely by her waist, pinning her to him with no where to turn but further into his arms.

The walk through the hallway was a short one, made longer by her shoving him back against the wall and pushing herself against him only for James to retaliate by crowding her against the other wall and then pulling her back towards the bedroom. James summoned the lights as they entered the small room.

Without sparing the room a glance, he shoved her back onto the bed and stood looming over her at the foot of the bed. Again Miranda felt as though she were caught in the shadow of the tallest mountain, eclipsing even the sun. It was dizzying just gaping up at him.

She backed up further onto the bed, trying to reclaim some equilibrium, when James followed her trail; crawling up the bed like a hunter that finally had it's prey exactly where he wanted her. Miranda swallowed hard, trying to settle her breathing back down, to steady the urgency with which her heart was pounding.

He was crouched over her, gazing down at her as though she were some foreign creature he didn't understand. James grabbed the hem of her shirt again and gave her the briefest of glances, waiting for only the slightest second for her to protest. When no protests were forthcoming he started to peel off her shirt and Miranda sat up a little to help him get it off as quickly as possible.

Laying underneath him in just her bra and her bottoms, Miranda was glad when James decided that he wanted it all off. The man grunted like an animal, fumbling with her pants in his urgency to get them off. Miranda arched her ass up and let him slide her bottoms off of her while she also unhooked her bra and tossed it aside. James inched back to look at her and his expression fell.

Miranda could only describe the look that dawned across James' feature's as realization. He gaped down at her as though he was a blind man seeing for the first time. It was the same look that she'd seen someone wear when seeing the abundance of space for the first time. She shifted underneath him, uncomfortable by the weight of his gaze on her body and the devastating effect it was arousing inside of her.

He blinked once, and snapped his mouth back shut before he said, "Miranda, you're," he held her gaze, "You're beautiful."

There was little more she could do than stare up at him. Men had called her beautiful before, millions of times before; but never like _that_, never like it was the only truth in the universe. Her body had earned her innumerable amounts of cat calls and wolf whistles, compliments that had little more substance than dust on a shelf. The way James had called her beautiful actually made her _feel_ beautiful. For the first time in her life she _felt_ like her beauty ran deeper than just face value.

James' touch was feather light as he ran his fingertips across her waist, and Miranda admired the differences in their complexion, his caramel skin tone against her pale white flesh. His heat against her rekindled the wildfire inside of her, reminding her that her need for him wasn't something that could be satiated with butterfly kisses.

Pulling James into her arms, she forced her lips against his and reached in between them for his pants. Undoing the button and unzipping the zipper, Miranda slid her hands down his back to his ass and grabbed a handful of each cheek before tugging down his pants.

A throaty chuckle sounded from James as he rolled off of Miranda and ripped off his pants, before reclaiming his place on top of her. James leaned back, kneeling between her legs as he stared down at her. Miranda felt exposed to him, in every sense. She felt as though he could see straight through her like this, like he could see the dark parts of her that she tried to keep hidden, the doubt, the insecurity. It felt like he saw all of it, and he wasn't turning away from her in disgust; just the opposite.

Her gaze wandered from his hazel eyes, down his perfect chest and mouthwatering torso, to the throbbing member standing at attention between them. As if she wasn't impressed by him already. Miranda bit her lip and rolled her pelvis toward him. She needed him so badly, and she could see that he needed her too, there wasn't any more need for him to play it chivalrous.

"James," it sounded like both a plea and a demand even to her ears.

He pressed the tip of his penis against her entrance and stared deep into her eyes as he leaned over her, slowly inching his way inside of her. Miranda gasped sharply, digging her nails into his back as James buried himself inside of her. She could feel every inch of him slide into her bit by bit, the velvet encased steel of his hard cock slowly rubbing against the sensitive flesh of her moistened pussy.

When he was sheathed to the hilt, James gave her only a moment of reprieve to accommodate to his size before he started moving. His motions were expert in a way that made Miranda throw her head back and groan in delightful ecstasy. She dragged her nails down his back and arched her body up to meet his pounding thrusts. Grabbing a hold of his ass again, she encouraged him to give it to her harder.

James brushed his lips across her neck again, licking her from throat to jaw before sinking his teeth into her neck. Miranda was lost to the pleasure of his touch, to the feel of his hard cock thrusting in and out of her, rubbing against her achy g-spot so good that she felt herself inching towards orgasm with each thrust.

"Oh, fuck," she moaned, her voice shaky with the intensity of his assault. Her whole body shook as he plowed into her, claimed her, marked her as his own in a way no man had ever done before him. James took her earlobe into his mouth as he brought a hand up to cup her breast, tweaking and teasing the already hard nipple. Miranda felt a white hot heat edge its way into her vision until it was the only thing she saw.

"Oh, James!" she shouted as he shoved her over the edge and into the foggy bliss of climax. Her mouth was close to his ear, her breath hot against it and raising goose bumps on his neck. He stilled above her for a few moments and pulled his face back from the crook of her neck to gaze upon her, to catch the moment when she was trapped in bliss. Somewhere in the thick fog of ecstasy she wondered what she looked like to him. His hazel eyes watched her as if she looked like a goddess

James gave her no reprieve. Even as she was fluttering back down from her orgasm, a down feather caught in a summer's breeze, he started to move again, this time slowly, his thrusts long and hard. Miranda could tell that he was struggling to find his self control, to not slam mercilessly into her until he followed her into the bliss of climax. Instead, he decided to prolong the feeling as long as he could.

Breathless moans left her lips as she whispered his name, encouraging him to speed up. He bit down her neck again, not able to suppress the primal beast she released as his grip tightened on her breast. She wrapped her legs around his waist, urging him to go deeper, faster, harder; and James was only too happy to please her, making her feel like his sexy goddess. He sped up, her hips meeting his forceful thrusts as he snaked his arm underneath her back to bring her impossibly close to him, her breasts pressing so wonderfully against his muscled chest.

Miranda never felt so overwhelmed by a man before, never had a man treated her like James did. He was a beast, taking from his prey everything he wanted without asking for permission, giving her intense pleasure in return. His hard, throbbing cock rubbed against her inner walls so wonderfully and hard that she soon saw the same white hot heat until she exploded from the sheer force of him.

After a few more thrusts he followed her past the steep cliff and into his own orgasm. James bit out her name as his entire body curled around hers, the intensity of his release molding him against her.

Rolling off of her, the only sound in the room for a minute was of them trying to catch their breaths. Miranda stared up at the ceiling as she tried to get her heartbeat to decelerate to a healthy rate, but couldn't as she considered the man beside her. Without the heat of him against her she suddenly felt lost, needy in a way that was vastly different than the carnal kind she'd felt earlier. This was an emotional need, and the realization terrified her.

She discarded the thought as James reanimated beside her. He rolled onto his side and smiled down at her, the sparkle in his eye admitting that he wasn't quite finished. Miranda returned his smile, she had wished for him to have stamina after all.

-X-

He heard the soft chime of an incoming message somewhere in the distance. Rolling onto his side, James tried to escape the sound, refusing to wake up for anything. The bed shifted a little and it was the last thing James acknowledged before he drifted back into sleep.

When his eyes fluttered open again it was to see Miranda standing at the edge of the bed, zipping up her outfit. James sat up on the bed and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. So last night hadn't been a dream after all, he fought the smirk from his lips.

Realizing that she was a little too overdressed for sleeping in beside him, James wondered, "Are you going some where?"

"Yes," was her curt reply, her defenses were back up stronger than ever.

He stared at her, admiring her curves and remembering how they had felt against him, how they had moved along with his body. Blinking away the arousing thoughts, he asked, "Do you need back up?"

She shook her head sharply. "No," and left the bedroom. He heard the front door unlocking and her voice called back to him, "Lock the door behind you when you leave."

Before James could jump out of bed, sheets gathered around his waist as he chased after her, his own omni-tool went off. He shook it on with a groan and gripped at the message.

_To: Lieutenant James Vega_

_From: Commander Jane Shepard_

_Subject: All Hands on Deck_

_James,_

_Grab the first flight back to the Normandy. I need you for a mission._

_Shepard.  
__

Scratching his day old scruff, James sighed and decided to have some breakfast before he headed out. Maybe last night's Italian was still good. It was probably on the floor where he had left it. He didn't fight the smirk when it crawled over his lips again. He and Miranda had actually had sex. He didn't know how in the world it happened, but he thanked God that it did.

As he climbed out of bed and walked toward the shower, he decided that maybe he should order another bottle of wine for his next house visit.


	9. Chapter 9

_To: Miranda Lawson_

_From: Dr. Joseph Silas_

_Subject: Meeting_

_I heard you've been searching for information about your father. Perhaps we will be able to assist one another. I will be at the Serenna Cafe for one hour. Meet me there and we'll arrange something._

_Dr. J Silas  
__

She reread the message again, grinding her teeth as she paced the empty corridor in the building across the street from the meeting point. Miranda had fled her apartment the moment she received the message. Serenna Cafe was in another system than that hovel she was renting. She needed time to get there before the arranged rendezvous to scope out the perimeter and make sure this Dr. Silas wasn't perfectly planted bait. Miranda knew better than to walk blindly into a trap.

It had nothing to do with her waking up curled up in James' arms. Or with how her body had reacted to the sight of him stretched out naked on her bed, his magnificently sculpted body covered only partially by the sheets. Her reaction to him had been more than a physical desire to repeat the previous night's excursions. Miranda had awoken to the message, glanced down at James and smiled.

She'd found his peaceful expression endearing. _Endearing_! She wished her pull to the Lieutenant was just physical; it would have been so uncomplicated if the only thing she wanted from James was his body. But it wasn't, she found him _endearing_. Somewhere deep down, Miranda wanted more from him, maybe all of him, and that wasn't something she could entertain right now. She wasn't even sure if it was something she could entertain ever, even after finding her sister. She and James together; it just didn't make any sense.

Rubbing her eyes, Miranda forced herself to ostracize all thoughts of James from her mind. Even light years away the man was distracting her. She ground her teeth in irritation and refocused on observing the meeting point. It was an open air cafe, and the surrounding buildings offered plenty of places for a sniper to line a shot. It was a good thing she'd thought to upgrade her armor, in the very least it would give her a chance to find cover before the sniper got to fire a second shot.

It was also a rather popular establishment, there were a lot of people walking through the area. Any number of them could be undercover assassins, or informants for her father and the Illusive Man. She was risking a lot by agreeing to this meeting. Perhaps she should have taken James up on his offer to be her backup.

Shaking her head she shoved the thought from her mind before it could roost. She didn't need backup. Miranda could handle this on her own. James would only get in the way and distract her from her objective. Miranda was going to find her sister herself, by any means necessary; even if it meant preparing herself for this to be an ambush. Whatever came of this meeting, she was ready for it.

She checked the time again. There was fifteen minutes left until Dr. Silas arrived for their meeting. That gave her enough time to finalize her strategy. If this was a set up, like she had a feeling it was, there was an escape route just past the fountain that led to a transit terminal. Miranda cracked her knuckles as she considered her other options.

The truth of the matter was that if this was a trap it meant that Dr. Silas was working for her father. He would have information about Oriana's location, or at least a clue as to where she could be found. It was information he wouldn't release willingly, and definitely not over coffee. Miranda would have to make him feel comfortable, powerful. She'd need to walk into this trap and allow whatever happened next to happen. It was the only way.

Miranda brought the binoculars back to her eyes, watching as an older man strode into the cafe and took a seat on the far end of the pavilion. He was early. The man had salt and pepper hair, his goatee visibly more white than brown. He looked harmless. _They usually do_, Miranda mused.

Dr. Silas smiled politely at the waitress that stopped by the table, placed an order with the young asari, then rested his brief case on the table in front of him. He glanced over his shoulder to the building behind him and Miranda followed his gaze, inspecting all of the building's windows for snipers or lookouts. When she found none she moved to the other buildings, carefully inspecting each window until she was sure they were clear of enemies.

Returning her attention to Dr. Silas, she narrowed her eyes on him. So there were no snipers, it didn't mean he was clean. She couldn't trust him, but she intended to use him to the fullest extent. Miranda watched the other patrons for a minute, locating possible threats before she decided to join him.

She returned the binoculars to her bag before throwing it into a locker and exiting the building around the back, taking the long way around to keep the good doctor waiting just a bit longer. Just because she knew this was a set up didn't mean that she was in a hurry to walk right into it. For Oriana, Miranda would face whatever came next, but she wouldn't accept death until she knew her sister was safe.

It was a lovely day out at least, there was a light breeze coming in from the east and the sun was on it's nightward trek through the heavens. Inhaling the clean air, Miranda swallowed her reservations about walking into this trap. If Dr. Silas requested for them to have the conversation in a more private location, she would know for sure what his true intentions were; and this wouldn't be the first time that Cerberus' extensive training backfired.

Stopping by the hostess stand, Miranda pointed to where the doctor was seated at the far end of the pavilion. The pretty asari girl smiled softly at her and nodded for Miranda to go ahead and find her way to the table. She kept her attention on Silas as she strode towards the table, alert to the bodies passing in her peripheral vision. Any one of them could be Cerberus dogs, or her father's thugs, and if there were either she was ready for them.

Dr. Silas looked up as she neared him, a welcoming smile brushed over his lips as she claimed the seat across from his. "Miranda, thank you for agreeing to meet."

She settled into the seat, not sparing the man even a twitch in her expression. "You have information about my father?"

"Straight to business then?" His polite smile remained unmoved. The waitress returned to the table and placed his cup of tea on the table. The waitress gave Miranda an expectant look as Dr. Silas asked, "Are you sure you don't want to get something to drink before we get started?"

Waving off the waitress, Miranda curtly declined. "No, thank you." As the waitress left the table, she arched an eyebrow at the doctor. "Information, Silas. That's why I'm here. What do you know?"

"No-nonsense, just like I heard," he offered her another friendly smile before picking out some sweeteners from the caddie on the table and pouring them into his tea. "I've heard a lot about you over the years." Dr. Silas said, his attention on his task and not on the narrowed glare Miranda was stabbing into him.

She wasn't fond of games, and found his especially loathsome. Miranda could see right through his friendly facade. The sooner they could get down to business the better, be it them actually talking business or him trying to pull a fast one; she'd just be happy to get things rolling.

"That's where you have me at a disadvantage, Doctor." She disguised her sneer as a tight smile. Picking the spoon off of the table, she handed it to him as she said, "I know next to nothing about you."

Dr. Silas accepted the spoon from her with a word of thanks and started stirring his tea. "I've worked for your father for years now," he admitted as though it were a fact of little consequence. When he looked up from his beverage to meet Miranda's slightly surprised expression, he explained, "I was on the team that created you."

She set her jaw to keep from reacting, but Miranda could feel her heart pick up its pace in her chest. He didn't look like he was lying, though this man was proving a bit difficult to actually read. That friendly charisma was acting like a curtain, shielding him from the common man's suspicion and making it difficult for Miranda to identify what it was exactly that put her off about him. In the end, all that mattered was the knowledge that despite that warm smile and approachable appearance, he couldn't be trusted; that was a matter of fact.

Leaning forward in not-so-feign interest, Miranda asked, "And my sister?"

"Yes," Silas nodded contently before taking a sip from his tea. As he set the cup back down he added, "Though you were more of the trial and error specimen; the first success after many failures, as is the case with most first-borns." The doctor chuckled quietly to himself before continuing with his explanation. "Oriana is the result of the groundwork you laid out for her; shame that we didn't get to see what became of her."

Miranda bit the inside of her cheek to keep from remarking. She didn't like the cold, clinical way Silas was talking about her sister. Oriana was a young, intelligent, talented and wonderful woman. Not some bacterial cells in a slide under a microscope. "If you've worked for my father for such a long time, why turn on him now?"

"It's simple, really," he said with a shrug. Leaning forward, he gave Miranda what was supposed to be a disarming smile. "What I did for your father before, it was beautiful. We were not only creating life, but also creating the best of what life has to offer. Just look at you," Silas gestured towards her as though she was the key evidence to his explanation. "But what your father does now, what he intends to do," he shook his head in disappointment. "His intentions are no longer noble."

"Have they ever been?" Miranda wondered aloud, unable to keep the spite out of her tone. Before the doctor could open his mouth and argue morality, she asked, "What's my father doing? What is he planning?"

The expression that the doctor plastered over his features was of open honesty, or at least it was meant to look that way. He was good. If Miranda wasn't naturally sceptical of people, a trait that was reinforced by years of training, she might have even fallen for it. "I left your father's services before getting into the thick of it." How very convenient. "What I do know is that ever since he partnered with the Illusive Man your father has been pursuing Reaper technology."

_Well, that isn't vague or anything_, Miranda gave him a serious look. "To what end?"

Silas looked from left to right, scoping their surrounding for eavesdroppers. He leaned further forward and said, "Let's discuss this somewhere more private, shall we?"

Sighing, Miranda agreed and followed his lead. She'd known from the beginning what this meeting was; but was being wrong every once in a while too much to ask for? Dr. Silas collected his brief case from the table and took a final sip of his tea before standing from the seat and walking towards the rear exit.

She followed close behind him, making sure to appear oblivious to his plans and unsuspecting of what she was walking into. They left the cafe uninterrupted and headed for one of the alleyways between the surrounding buildings. When the building's height eclipsed the sunlight, she prepared her biotics. She had to make this convincing.

They strode further into the alleyway when the men jumped her. Miranda counted six before they closed in and she threw one against the wall only to spin around, kicking another in the throat; he was slammed back into the man behind him and they both fell to the ground in an entangled heap of limbs and curses. Ducking from a punch to the face, Miranda fell to the ground and kicked another man's feet out from under him and then launched herself at someone else. Once she had him pinned down by her weight she bashed her fists into his face.

A set of strong hands pulled her by her hair, tearing her off of her victim before stabbing a taser into her side and covering her face with a black sack. Miranda seized on the ground as the currents of electricity flowed through her. She felt a man tilt her head to the side and bury a needle into her neck. The last thing that slipped through her fading consciousness was the sensation of someone picking her up off the ground and carrying her. How different it was to be on this end of an ambush; she only hoped that they let her live long enough for her to dig up as much information about her sister and father as possible.

Miranda's last thought before giving into the inviting black was of James Vega's flirtatious smirk.

-X-

Rannoch, the quarian homeworld; or at least it was before the geth had a goddamn uprising and kicked their creators off the planet nearly three centuries ago. After all this time the quarians were trying to find a way to drive away the geth. Now, when the Reapers were invading, when the entire galactic civilization was on the brim of destruction, they decided _now_ would be the best time to wage an age old war.

_Pendejos_, thought James as he impatiently tapped his fingers against his arm. He was leaning on the wall of the hallway that connected the bridge to the CIC where he could still witness what was going on down there on Rannoch, and still be an acceptable distance from Joker and EDI without being bothered by them. He needed the space to think, yet he also had to see what exactly was happening on Rannoch.

James was restless; it had been a few days since he last heard from Miranda; no vid-calls, no voice-calls, no messages. Nothing. It was as if she just disappeared, vanished. _Or she's just avoiding my calls,_ the thought sneaked itself into James' mind, but he chased it away quickly. Miranda wouldn't ignore him on purpose . . . would she?

So they had sex; great, amazing, adventurous, spine tingling sex. They were adults, with adult needs, sex being one of the more important ones. It wasn't a big deal. It had been fun, the best sex James had ever had in his entire life, sex he intended to have again; but he couldn't help but feel like he had done something wrong. Did he overstep his boundaries? Did Miranda feel it too, their pull to one another? Did she bolt because it scared her?

_Where is she?_ He kept repeating to himself that she was fine, that she knew how to take care of herself, but the other overprotective part of James just wouldn't drop the matter. _Stupid quarians_, he thought. He was tempted to just beg Liara to pinpoint her exact location again so he could just storm off to find her. If only he was on the Citadel, he could buy the same bottle of wine and hopefully, they would sleep together again and-

James shook his head and dragged a hand down his face. What was wrong with him? Since their night together he could barely think of anything else but Miranda; and whenever he thought of Miranda his body responded immediately. His heart would beat like it hadn't done in a long time; his stomach and heart fluttered, he could feel his blood heating up at the thought of her pale skin against his, her soft lips against his mouth, her velvety voice against his ear... _Dios._

James inhaled a steadying breath as he tried to hide his body's reaction to the mere thought of Miranda, but it was like fighting a losing battle. The distance between them was slowly killing him, as well as the fact that he didn't know whether or not she was alright.

"Lieutenant?" James almost spun around as he heard the Major addressing him.

"Major," greeted James before he leaned back against the wall. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and gazed at the cockpit, grateful that he at least stopped his body's reaction to the memories of Miranda writhing underneath him.

Kaidan stopped on the opposite wall and crossed his hands in front of his chest as well, mimicking the lieutenant as he spoke. "Everything good?"

"Yeah, just anxious that I can't be there with Lo- the Commander." James noticed the angry look that passed on the Major's features for calling Lola, well, Lola. He had to get used to not call her Lola in front of the Major.

"It's inappropriate to address your superior officer with nicknames, you know." James heard the warning tone of his voice and he couldn't help but feel angry. _You also don't point a gun at your superior officer, pendejo, _thought James as he bit the inside of his cheek, to stop the words from leaving his mouth.

"Sorry, sir, it's just my way of remembering people."

The Major shifted again, his pointed gaze fixed on the lieutenant as he spoke. "Well... maybe you should remember people through their actions, not through their nicknames." They kept staring at each other, the tension between them growing as neither of them wanted to back down or break the gaze.

After a moment of staring, the Major sighed and shook his lowered head as he ran a hand through his hair. "Sorry, James, it's just... Shepard is down there and-"

"I know," James interrupted, knowing exactly what he was talking about; he was worried for Lola too. And he was worried for Miranda. "It kills me standing here and doing nothing while Shepard does all the fighting. Makes me feel useless."

"Yeah... I just hope she is okay." James saw the Major still cared deeply for Lola, despite the fact they'd been arguing regularly since he joined the Normandy crew.

"That's Commander Shepard, of course she'll be okay," said James, hoping to reassure the Major and to lift the mood a little. But it only brought a bitter smile to Kaidan's face as he turned his head to look at the cockpit.

"She died once, Vega," was all the Major said, his voice bitter and pained. "And now she's down there... alone, fighting the geth and the Reapers. I guess I'm just angry that I can't be down there with her."

James let his words sink in, letting the silence stretch between them a little before he found his voice to speak. "She is not alone, Sir. Garrus and Tali have her back, the Commander will be fine."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Silence fell between them again and it made James uncomfortable. Luckily, a moment later the Major broke it. "A lot has happened and I swore myself to never leave her alone again; to always be at her side. And now, when I'm finally back on her ship, she takes you, EDI or Garrus with her rather than me. I feel like she doesn't trust me like she used to." Kaidan lowered his head and stared at the floor as he spoke, "But I can't blame her. I mean after everything that happened..."

"What happened?" asked James, not able to suppress his curiosity.

Kaidan smiled bitterly and he shifted a little before he spoke, "Let's just say that I turned my back on her when she needed me the most. I was a fool, Vega, and now I'm paying the price. I can only hope and _beg_ for her forgiveness." His voice trailed off, his gaze became distant, as if he was reliving the memory again.

James swallowed hard, not knowing what to say after his confession; he was surprised that the Major spoke so openly to him, still he was happy. He felt like they somehow, in a way, shared the same burden. Shepard was down there fighting for everyone, Miranda was somewhere fighting for her sister's freedom. The only difference was the Major knew where Shepard was, James had no idea where Miranda was.

"Do you have someone special, Vega?" asked the Major, bringing the lieutenant back from his thoughts.

He shrugged his shoulders a little as he averted his gaze to the floor. "I do but... it's complicated."

"How so?" asked Kaidan.

James shifted again, feeling awkward for talking about such things with him. "I don't know where she is," he decided to be honest and he had to admit, it felt good. "She's somewhere fighting out there and I can't reach her."

"I'm sorry," said Kaidan, his voice honest and concerned.

That brought a small smile to James' face as he told the Major the same thing he'd been telling himself for days now, "She can handle herself though; she's one of the strongest biotics I've seen."

"It's never enough though, is it?" the Major asked and James moved his gaze from the cockpit's windows to where Kaidan was standing across from him. A small sympathetic smile twitched at the corner of Alenko's mouth as he regarded James. "Knowing that they can take care of themselves isn't enough to stop us from wanting -_needing_- to protect them."

James set his jaw and returned his attention to ongoing battle outside the Normandy. Shaking his head, he agreed, "No, it isn't enough."

As if to prove Kaidan's point, the quarian ships began to move; flying just outside of Rannoch's exosphere like bees protecting their hive. James watched as Joker and EDI managed their stations. The helmsman maneuvered the Normandy into Rannoch's atmosphere as Shepard aimed the ship's weapons on the pit where the Reaper phase was originating from.

"Target locked," EDI announced as the Normandy descended and shot off a powerful blast into the pit.

The planet below seemed to tremor in reaction to their attack. Joker's next statement didn't register with James right away.

"Shit," Joker said in a breathy exhale, too surprised to properly control his voice. "Is that a Reaper?"

Legion's mechanical voice sounded from the cockpit's speakers. _"We have located transportation."_

"_Copy that,"_ there was the slightest hint of fear in the Commander's voice as she addressed the rest of her team. _"Everybody, get to the ship. Move!"_

Tension so thick it could be tasted filled the CIC and the rest of the Normandy. His heart started galloping nervously in his chest, pounding it's way into his throat as James watched EDI and Joker work. A Reaper on Rannoch, well that definitely wasn't what they'd been expecting. He glanced over to the Major, catching sight of the man's worst fears coming true. He understood the dumbstruck look of terror that was threatening to surface along Alenko's face.

The ship was quiet as the crew listened to the ongoing events occurring on the planet below. Lola's voice came over the intercom again, speaking directly to the Normandy as she announced, _"Shepard to fleet, it's not a Reaper base it's a__** live**__ Reaper. I need an orbital strike."_

As if orchestrated by an outside force, the fleet moved to attack on Shepard's command. James tensed his jaw in anticipation. Whatever crazy idea Lola had up her sleeve, it had to work. _Merda, _he swore to himself. This was getting intense.

"_Fire at will!"_ she shouted into her comm and Kaidan flinched beside him at the well disguised fear in her voice. James tore his attention from the Major and returned it to Joker and EDI. He couldn't look at the desperate expression on the other man's face. It was a look of terror and helplessness. Kaidan was worried for the woman he cared for and there was nothing he could do to help her. James could sympathize.

Something happened on the battleground below. The Reaper was down, and one of the Admirals asked what they were all wondering, _"What did we hit?"_

"_The firing chamber,"_ the Commander answered. _"Looks like a weak point when it's priming."_

Admiral Gorris sounded over the comm again. _"Damn it, the jamming towers have us targeting manually. We can't make a precision shot."_

"_We may be able to escape before it recovers,"_ suggested Legion.

"_No,"_ the unbending tone of the Commander's voice made Kaidan tense up beside him. _"Pull over."_

If James thought the air had been tense before, he was wrong; and a majority of that tension was radiating off of the Major in toxic waves. He watched Alenko's features as Shepard's voice came back over the intercom. _"EDI, patch the quarians to the Normandy's weapon system. I want the targeting laser synced to the whole damn fleet."_

EDI noded despite the Commander's inability to see the gesture. "Understood."

"_Shepard to fleet! I'll paint the weak spot. Link up with the Normandy and be ready to fire."_

"Shit," Joker muttered from his place at the helm. "This is insane."

James couldn't have said it better himself. Beside him Kaidan stepped all the way into the cockpit until he was standing behind Joker's seat. "What the hell is she doing?" He asked no one in particular. Before anyone could answer his first question, the Major bit out, "What about her team? They're just going to leave her there?"

"I'm trying to fly a goddamn warship here, Kaidan." Joker's voice was annoyed, probably irked that Kaidan was shouting right in his ear.

The Major paid no attention to the helmsman as he went on. "She's just going to fight a Reaper, by herself?"

"No," Joker replied, vexed by the Major's proximity to his workspace. "She has the Normandy and the entire quarian fleet." Glancing over his shoulder to where James was standing, he said, "Vega, get him out of here. I need room to work my magic."

Pushing himself off of the wall, James stepped into the cockpit and placed a hand on the Major's shoulder. When Alenko shrugged out from under his grasp, he said, "Come on, Major. Joker and EDI need to concentrate. You're not helping Shepard by losing your cool."

"I'm not losing my cool," Kaidan argued, boring a deadly glare into James. When James held the Major's gaze, Kaidan agreed to go with a sigh. He stormed past him and into the CIC, determined to still watch the fight even if he couldn't do it from the cockpit.

The doors to the cockpit closed behind him as James left to join the rest of the crew in the CIC. He could see the fearful expressions on everyone's faces, the uncertainty for what was about to happen. No one knew what the hell was going on down there on Rannoch, the only thing they knew for sure was that Shepard was standing alone, face to face against a Reaper. Technically, she wasn't alone, but what was a single woman compared to a Reaper? James could only pray to whatever God existed that the Reaper didn't turn her to dust.

He watched the Major pacing up and down a line muttering things as EDI sounded over the intercom, announcing another joint attack on the Reaper. Silence fell in the CIC as James stopped close to Kaidan, trying his best to calm the man down before his biotics break lose.

"Kaidan," right now, James didn't care about formality; Alenko was a friend and James had to take care of him because he seemed to be the only one that understood his position. "You have to stay calm. Freaking out now won't help Shepard."

Kaidan spun around and glared angrily at James, his brown eyes shining with a dim blue light. "_I_ should stay calm?! If you haven't noticed, she is fighting a _Reaper_! Alone!"

"She's _not_ alone! She has the entire quarian fleet to support her!" They were both shouting now. James was aware of the glances pointed at them, but somehow he couldn't bring himself to care. The Major was losing himself and _maybe _the woman he loved.

"She is facing a reaper alone!" Kaidan continued to argue, too caught up in his worry and fear to think clearly. "It doesn't matter if she has the entire galaxy at her disposal! She is alone down there!"

"_Target acquired,"_ sounded EDI's voice through the intercom and everyone held their breaths. Kaidan gripped the railing so hard his knuckles turned white as the minutes around them seemed to pass by in slow motion.

James stopped close to him and offered him his silent comfort and support as EDI's voice sounded through the intercom again. _"Fire!"_

"Eat this, you son of a bitch!" yelled Joker as he threw his middle fingers into the screen as if the Reaper could see him.

Another handful of tense minutes passed, EDI always announcing their attacks until suddenly everything went silent. James lifted his head and looked around, spotting the confused glances of the others. He turned to look back at the Major and froze; his face was pale, his eyes averted at the floor, but what shocked James most was his expression. It was blank, distant and hopeless. James couldn't bear that look any longer so he lifted his face towards the intercom and yelled.

"EDI, Joker, what the hell is going on?!"

As if on cue, Shepard's voice rang through the Normandy. _"The Reaper is down. I repeat; the Reaper is down! Good job everyone!"_

James let out a loud laugh before he gave the Major a strong pat on his shoulder, "Ha! She killed a Reaper! Told you she would be fine! I mean that's Commander Shepard we're talking about, the most badass woman in the entire galaxy!" But that did nothing to brighten the Major's expression as he slowly slid down on his rear. James took a closer look now and saw the look of utter horror still plastered on his face. "Come on _amigo_, she's safe. She killed that Reaper."

Kaidan shot him an angry glare before he stood up, his hands balled into fists at his sides, his nostrils flaring and his breath was heavy before he strode past James towards the elevator.

James kept his eyes glued on the Major's back until he disappeared into the elevator. He shook his head as a small smirk appeared on his face; Lola just killed a reaper. He couldn't help but let his smirk stretch before he stopped close to a cheering Joker while EDI took care of the flight. He leaned his back on the closest wall and kept watching Joker as the tension seemed to leave the ship; Lola was alright.

The smile faded from his face though as Miranda crossed his mind again. He wondered where she was right now and if she was well, but mostly he wondered why she was dodging his calls, if she was dodging them at all. She had to be avoiding him, because the alternative . . . He shook his head when his heartbeat started to race with fear for her safety which made him realize one thing; he was worried for Miranda as much as Kaidan had been worrying for Shepard.

-X-

After the insane battle on Rannoch had ended, James retreated to his spot in the cargo hold. He stood by his desk and cleaned the weapons as he thought about the things that happened down there. Shepard somehow managed to save the quarians and the geth, and to make it even crazier she managed to bury the old grudge between them. Now they were allies helping each other to rebuild their homeworld. He shook his head and smiled at the thought; Lola sure was incredible.

But his smile soon vanished at the sound of the annoying and hard footsteps behind him. He rolled his eyes and took a deep breath as he tried to focus on something other than the Major's footsteps in the cargo hold. He had been there the entire time, waiting for the shuttle to arrive so he could... James wasn't sure what he would do, but he guessed it had something to do with Lola and scolding her for her recklessness. He frowned at that; she didn't need that right now but it seemed to him that the Major didn't care. She lost Legion today, and even though James only had a few encounters with the geth, he considered it part of the team. Shepard trusted it and that was enough for James.

He shot a quick glance over his shoulder and caught the Major still pacing up and down the same line, wearing a track into the ground that James would later have to sand out. James shook his head and willed his thoughts to someone else._ Miranda_. His face immediately saddened and he became crippled by his worry.

He still hadn't heard from her, and he was starting to think that something really had happened to her. He knew that she wouldn't block or ignore his calls no matter how much he thought he hurt her. Miranda just wasn't the type of woman to do that; she was always honest with him, and if he really annoyed her she wouldn't have even bothered sleeping with him. She would have ignored him from the start, which wasn't the case. So the only logical explanation was that something had happened to her, an explanation which didn't make their separation any easier for him.

There was no way of reaching her, even Liara came to a dead end; there were no trails, no leads, nothing. She was just gone, without a trace, and he was left behind with questions and concerns that only she could attend to. James had been beaten, blundered, stabbed, shot, cut, bruised and everything inbetween, and he could safely say without a shadow of doubt that _this_ was the worst feeling he had ever experienced in his entire life. Before he could whip out the hats, so he and Kaidan could have a pity party, the door to the cargo hold opened. Lola and the others were finally back.

James watched a clearly exhausted and tired Shepard walking out of the shuttle, followed by Garrus and Tali who didn't look any better. He knew her long enough to know that all she needed right now was a hot shower, a warm meal and some time alone. But judging by the look on the Major's face, James knew she wouldn't get any of those things immediately.

Kaidan stopped a few feet in front of her and pointed his worried eyes on her as he spoke. "Are you insane?"

Shepard didn't answer, instead she gave him that look that said 'leave me alone'. She tried to walk past him but Kaidan blocked her way. "You could've died back there!"

Her expression shifted and the determination returned to her features as she answered, her tone harsh. "The Reaper is dead, isn't it? Why are you making this such a big deal? I'm fine, everyone is fine!"

"Because it _is_ a big deal." His voice turned from worried to frightened, and James fidgeted at the sound of it. He understood him though, he would react the same way if it had been Miranda down there. "It's a Reaper, Shepard. The thing could have killed you and you faced it alone."

Garrus stepped up then, his cold and deadly gaze fixed on the Major, "She was hardly alone, Alenko." He bit his name out as he stopped next to Shepard, as if to shield her from his poisonous words. "We had her back."

Kaidan whipped his head around to give his turian 'friend' his entire focus. "She _was _alone because you drove off to save your own ass. What were you thinking?!"

Shepard stepped up again, this time standing toe to toe with Kaidan, "Because I ordered them to leave so they could avoid the Reaper's attacks. Besides, I don't need a babysitter, Kaidan, so cool down a little."

_This is going to be interesting, _thought James, even though he felt like a fool for finding this entire situation a little amusing. He watched Garrus closing the gap between him and the Major, nudging Shepard slightly aside with his much larger frame as his eyes pierced into Kaidan's.

"When it comes to following Shepard into battle," he started, his voice sounding as deadly as his gaze looked, "I'm the one with the spotless record, don't you think?"

James watched the Major throw his hands in the air in frustration. "Keep throwing that in my face, Vakarian; it'll never get old." His voice rang with sarcasm, the tension between them so thick it almost turned into electricity.

James averted his gaze towards Shepard and saw her rubbing her tired eyes with her forefingers, her head lowered. He knew she was slowly losing her patience with these two and it was only a matter of time until she snapped and threw both of them out of the airlock. Garrus and Kaidan continued with their rambling about who the more loyal crew member was and which of them was the more useless one.

James swallowed hard when Shepard finally lifted her face to gaze angrily at them, and when her voice rang loudly in the cargo hold, everyone's blood seemed to freeze. "ENOUGH! The both of you!" her loud voice stopped their argument effectively and James had to suppress his urge to chuckle at the display of Kaidan and Garrus silently staring at Shepard, the fear written on their faces.

"You!" she said while pointing her finger at Garrus before pointing it to the elevator, "Crew deck, shower! Now! Tali, same goes for you! Now!"

"Shepard-" Garrus tried to reason with her, but it only took one look from Shepard, _the _look, to shut him up.

"Don't make me repeat myself, Garrus," recognizing her warning, Tali grabbed Garrus by his hand and practically dragged him into the elevator. Once the doors slid closed in front of them, Shepard turned her angry eyes on Kaidan as she spoke, her voice low and threatening. "And you, my cabin. We are not going to discuss this here. Traynor!"

The woman's voice sounded over the cargo area's intercom. "_Yes Commander?"_

"Block every message or call that needs my attention. I have some things to take care of."

"_Of course Commander." _Shepard kept her angry gaze trained on Kaidan. They just stood there, silently staring at each other, having a silent conversation that James had no part of. Kaidan opened his mouth to speak but Shepard lifted her hand and silenced him before she strode past him towards the elevator.

"My cabin, ten minutes. This is an order, Major." The doors opened and she stepped in.

Before she could disappear behind the lift's doors, James said, "Nice work down there, Lola."

"Shove it, Vega." Shepard bit out.

The elevator doors slid shut in front of her, leaving a very stunned Kaidan and James behind. The Major buried his face in his hands and let out a humorless laugh. Dragging his hands down his face, he groaned, "I can't do anything right by that woman."

Unsure what else to say, James observed, "You have ten minutes to come up with a decent apology." He wasn't exactly in the best position to be giving relationship advice, considering he wasn't even sure if he was in one; or where the hell Miranda was anyway.

"Yeah," Kaidan grumbled, keeping his back to James as he glared at the elevator's doors. "'I'm sorry that I care about you; I'm sorry that I want to protect you and keep you safe.' Would that about cover it?"

"Or," James shrugged, "You could start with something like 'I'm sorry that my timing sucks. I know that you're exhausted and stressed, and tearing you a new one wasn't the best way of letting you know that I care about you and worry when you do crazy things'." He offered Kaidan a weak smile when the other man turned around to give him an angry look. Putting his hands up defensively, James inserted, "Or you can do what you want. What do I know anyway?"

James returned his attention to cleaning out the weapons, ignoring the Major as he stared quietly at him while considering his words. When Kaidan finally left, grumbling something as he stepped into the elevator and left James to his work, James made sure that the cargo hold was empty before checking his omni-tool for the millionth time.

When he saw that Miranda hadn't yet responded to any of his thousand messages, he tried calling her one more time. There wasn't even a ring anymore; now he was immediately forwarded to her voicemail. The pit in his stomach had been steadily growing since she first disappeared, but now it was becoming this yawning abyss of worry and fear. Had Cerberus found her? Was she hurt? Was she even alive?

He left her another voicemail and returned to his guns. James fought against an all consuming weariness. He'd never been in a situation that he couldn't resolve himself; this helpless position was foreign to him, the foreboding feeling it inspired even more so. As much as he hoped that something hadn't happened to Miranda, he had a nagging feeling that something had; and there was nothing he could do about it.

Grinding his teeth, James forced himself to focus on his task. He had no control over anything but the guns on his workstation; and by the time he was done with them they'd be the cleanest they'd ever been.

* * *

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who enjoys the story, since we have a lot of fun writing it. Let me know what you think! Love ya people!


	10. Chapter 10

**Warning: **Torture described, violence and gore. Read with caution.

* * *

Grunting out in pain, she slowly opened her eyes only to be met by the darkness that surrounded her. She didn't know how long she'd been trapped here, but she guessed that days had passed since she last saw the sunlight. She looked around, hoping to see at least a small ray of light somewhere, a small glimmer of hope, but wherever she looked there was only darkness.

To make it worse, no sound accompanied her in the consuming darkness; the only sound she could hear was of her ragged breaths and her heartbeat. She closed her eyes because she felt more comfortable that way before she willed her mind to think about more pleasant things.

She thought about Oriana and the information she gathered during these days; Dr Silas always gave away new details about her father's whereabouts, enough so that she could put the pieces together. The only thing she still had to find out was her father's exact location, and she hoped that Silas was stupid enough to reveal her the last secret that kept her away from her sister.

Her thoughts then wandered to James; she wondered where he was and if he was worried. _Yes_, her mind supplied, _of course he's worried_. James did seem the type. He cared, perhaps more than she even knew, and he was probably worried sick over her disappearance. It shouldn't have bothered her as much as it did. After all, Miranda was only doing what she had to in order to find her sister; but the knowledge that James was out there, worrying after her, somehow it made her feel a bit selfish for choosing this route for information.

Shaking her head, she dismissed the thought. This was the furthest thing from selfish she had ever done. Miranda was doing this for Oriana. For her sister she would fight through all seven circles of hell and back, without a second thought. James would understand that, and if he didn't then maybe her feelings for him were misplaced. _Feelings?_ Miranda made a soft displeased sound, taking back the thought before it could manifest completely. She _didn't_ have feelings toward James. She couldn't... could she?

When the door swung open, allowing a blinding light to crowd into the room, Miranda was almost relieved that her interrogators had decided to reschedule her interrogation. Maybe a little torture would take her mind off of Lieutenant Vega and his illustrious smirk.

One of Dr. Silas' thugs strode into the room and grabbed Miranda by the old fashioned shackles secured around her wrists. Pulling her up onto her feet, Miranda made a show of her struggle to hold up her own weight. Her interrogators had been rather stingy with her rations of food and water, hoping to make her too weak to resist them; but she'd been waterboarded enough times to not worry about dehydration. The weaker they thought she was, the more information they unwittingly let slip about her father.

She allowed the man to drag her down a long hall and around a corner until they reached the room at the end of the hall. Miranda had made this walk enough times to have every detail committed to memory. This was a small facility, maybe ranging around two thousand square feet. There were a few other doors in the hall where her cell was located; and she knew that she was the only prisoner here. One of these doors was the exit, and she was willing to bet that it was the one on the opposite end of the hall of her interrogation room.

"Come on, Princess," the burly man growled as he tugged on Miranda's cuffs. He threw the door open and shoved her onto the dirty floor.

Miranda whimpered softly, masking her irritation as fear. When she finally had all the information she needed, he was going to be the first one to face her fury. Another man strode up to her and peeled her off of the ground. Holding onto her cuffs, he pulled her hands over her head and secured her shackles to the long chain dangling from the piping overhead.

She glanced up as he adjusted the chain until she was dangling helplessly, suspended about a foot above the ground. There was a leak in those pipes. A leak that worsened with every interrogation that they chose to hang her from them. The pipes were old, rusted, with the right amount of pressure they would burst.

"Where's your fight, Miss Lawson?" the sound of Dr. Silas' voice pulled her from her thoughts. She tore her gaze from the poorly maintained piping and met the good doctor's arrogant eyes. Leave it to a scientist to know exactly how to hurt a person. The man probably regarded her as a test subject; something less than human that could be poked and prodded until he achieved his desired results. Miranda had something special planned for him.

"Please," _stop talking_, she wanted to say. Instead she allowed a desperate whine to sneak into her voice. "I can't take this any more."

A friendly smile twisted the corners of the man's mouth. "You can end this, Miranda," his tone was soothing, compliant, as though he had only her best interests at heart. Silas reached out to her and combed her dirty hair away from her face. "Just tell me what I want to know."

Miranda resisted the urge to spit in his face as he trailed his disgusting fingers down the line of her jaw until he had her chin in his hand. Without ripping her face from his grasp, she cried, "I already told you everything. _Please_."

_Tsk_ing at her defeated behavior, he replied, "Do you take me for a fool, Miss Lawson?" He turned on his heel and waved for one of the brutes in the corner to come do his worst. As the man slapped the rubber hose across his palm, the doctor continued speaking over the other man's threatening display. "You've told me nothing but bullshit and half truths."

Dr. Silas leaned his weight against the workstation at the end of the room. Crossing his arms in front of his chest, he wondered, "Do you know what a half truth is, Miss Lawson?" When the only sound was of her chains ringing as she swung, and the rubber hose slapping against the thug's open hand, the Doctor supplied, "It's a lie. And I don't take kindly to liars."

As if on cue the doctor's brute started to whip the rubber hose across Miranda's torso. Without disguising her pain, Miranda cried out as the hose blundered her flesh, threatening to break her sore ribs and slice open her skin. She couldn't fake this kind of pain if she wanted to, and they needed to see her like this. They needed to see her broken, hurt; a defenseless animal with nowhere to hide.

She buried her face in her shoulder and squeezed her eyes shut, hiding from the pain in a way no amount of training would ever be able to adapt her to. The pain was real, the tears streaming down her cheeks were real, the feeling of her ribs cracking like glass was very real; what wasn't real was her vocal desperation for it all to stop. Yes, Miranda wanted it to end, but they hadn't pushed her over the edge yet. If they kept it up though... she honestly didn't know how much more she could take.

Pulled from the desk by his curiosity, Dr. Silas approached her, his head tilted to the side as he inspected her. Always the scientist, he was observing her reaction, gauging her resistance; the only thing missing was a notepad. "Enough," he said to his brute and the man thrashed Miranda with the hose one last time before he desisted his attack.

"You know how to end this, Miss Lawson." He held his wrist behind his back, the friendly smile continued to pull his lips as though they were sharing sunday brunch. "Just tell me what I want to know."

Her exhales were heavy as she hung there, like meat in a butcher's freezer. Wearily looking up past her brow to meet the doctor's gaze, she whispered, "Fine."

Dr. Silas raised a hand to his ear. "What was that?"

"_Fine!_" She barked before letting her head hang in defeat, fresh tears falling from her lashes as her breaths heaved out of her painfully. "I'll tell you just, please, no more."

His smile turned satisfied. "My, my, my; Miss Lawson finally broke." The pompous mien about him intensified ten fold. "Tell me everything that I want to know and I promise to end your suffering." When Miranda didn't reply or react he asked, "What do you know about your father's studies?"

"Nothing," Miranda flinched as Silas raised his hand to backhand her. Before he could slam his knuckles into her cheek she inserted. "Only that he's partnered with the Illusive man, that he has my sister, and what you told me about him studying Reaper technology. That's all I know; I swear."

The doctor returned his hand to his side and was silent for a moment as he measured the honesty of her tone. After a beat he asked, "Who have you told?"

"No one," Silas poised to strike and she shouted, "Commander Shepard. I only told the Commander."

He set his jaw, displeased. "Your father has plans on the horizon, Miranda; and he would prefer for you not to interfere."

Without replying, Miranda held her head against her arm and tried to concentrate on breathing. Her ribs were screaming in agony and there was nothing she could do. If it wasn't her every breath causing her pain, it was the stretched position of hanging from her arms.

Before he could either hit her or ask another question, his omni-tool started to chime. The doctor glanced down and sighed through his nose. Looking back at the thug standing by the door he said, "I have to take this." Silas strode toward the door and gestured for the other man to follow. "Come now. She's not going anywhere."

The door shut loudly behind him but Miranda could still hear the call from just outside the interrogation room. The familiar sound of another Cerberus Operative's voice sent an arctic chill down her spine.

"_What have you learned?_" that was definitely Kai Leng's voice.

_Shit_, Miranda glanced back up at the piping overhead as she continued to listen to their conversation.

"Not much," Dr. Silas replied. "She's put up a good fight up until now. I'm starting to think that she really doesn't know anything."

"_Cerberus has given the Lawsons enough sanctuary._" Kai Leng's voice dripped with venom. "_Get rid of her, Silas._"

Miranda lifted her head. _Horizon, sanctuary?_ Realization struck her like a rubber hose. Without needing to hear another word, Miranda started to move. Adjusting her hands until she had the chain in her grasp, she pulled herself up and let her weight fall back down. The piping creaked. A relieved smile inched across her lips before she banished it from her face completely. She wasn't out of the woods yet; she hadn't even gotten to the hard part.

Using her last reserves of strength, she kicked her legs up until she was suspended upside down, the chain firmly clutched in her grasp as she took a steadying breath. Steeling her resolve, Miranda released the chain from between her feet the same time she kicked her legs out in a windmill motion, twisting the chain around her torso in a way that painfully compressed her cracked ribs.

Miranda ignored the pain. Without stopping, she twisted her body again and again, wrapping the chain snuggly around her torso as she rolled up it's length. After several more windmill kicks, she found herself only feet away from the rusted piping on the ceiling. She glanced down, measuring the distance and regretting the pain to come.

She sucked in another breath before shutting her eyes and letting go of the chain. Miranda fell, gravity reclaiming her with selfish inclination. She spun back down at a neck breaking rate, the chain rattling as it uncoiled from around her until it finally came undone.

The force of her fall was enough to cause the poorly maintained piping to break. Her chain came loose and Miranda fell to the ground in a heap. Water burst from the pipes, gallon after gallon raining down on her and flooding the room. Miranda had only a second to catch her breath.

Picking herself up off the floor, Miranda moved to stand beside the door, breathing heavily as she waited for one of Silas' men to come bursting through. She only had to wait a second. The moment that the man kicked the door open, Miranda wrapped the chain around his neck and pulled. He was too surprised to fight her and she took advantage of that second to throw him face first against the wall. The man fell to his knees and she pushed against his back to suffocate him even faster.

When he slumped forward lifelessly, she unwrapped the chain from around his neck and let it fall to the ground beside her. Miranda shut the door, locking it to buy herself a few more seconds. She searched the body for a key and made a pleased sound when she found one in his pocket. Uncuffing herself, she grimaced at the unsightly bruises on her wrists, the mangled flesh where the metal had dug into her skin.

Moving towards the desk, Miranda ripped open each drawer until she found one with a case of medi-gel. She just needed something for the pain; she'd deal with her injuries later. Pulling free a vial, she grabbed a syringe and measured her dosage; ignoring the rattling door as Silas and his men tried to regain access to the room. Miranda stabbed the syringe into her leg and pressed the medi-gel directly into her system. Tilting her head back she let out a breath of relief as the incapacitating pain of her cracked ribs ebbed down to a tolerable ache.

She blinked her eyes back to focus when the door was nearly knocked off its hinges. Turning back around, Miranda rifled through the desk again. She pulled open the center drawer, a silver set of gleaming knives reflected the flickering lights overhead as she pulled them out into the open. Miranda grabbed two of the knives and sloshed through the rising water level.

Reclaiming her previous place by the door, she leaned back against the wall and caught her breath as she waited for Silas' men to finally break it down. The door rattled once, twice, and was thrown off its hinges on the third kick. A man stomped into the room, his breath heaving with ire as he walked into the chaos of a flooding room.

Miranda took advantage the second he was distracted by the gushing pipeline, and stepped up beside him. The moment the man realized she was there was a moment too late. She stabbed one of her knives into the side of his neck, and dragged her blade forward as she ducked behind the man's large frame to avoid getting shot by the second man entering the room.

Her already filthy clothes were getting splattered by blood as her human shield bled out in front of her. When his eyes were completely dimmed of life, Miranda held him up long enough to summon as much as her biotics as possible. She let the man collapse, his heavy body splashing the flooding floors as Miranda rolled out of the way. The fired shot barely missed her as she landed into a crouch and threw the gunman against the wall with her biotics.

The thug hit his head hard against the wall and fell forward, stunned and disoriented by her attack. Miranda was on him in a second, reacting before he had time to collect himself. Roaring loudly she stabbed her knife under his jaw and left it there as he died. She collected his weapon and turned for the exit. Two more thugs were rushing in her direction and Miranda lifted the gun and shot both of them between the eyes before they realized what happened.

She pressed herself against the wall as she neared the corner. Miranda knew that Silas had only two men left at his disposal; the hard part was almost over. When she heard the sound of running footfalls heading her direction she kneeled down on the floor, her back still against the wall. As the sound came closer and closer, Miranda waited until her pursuers were almost on top of her before rounding the corner and shooting one in the gut while stabbing the other with her remaining blade.

When the first man was thrown to the ground by the impact of the point blank rage shot to the stomach, Miranda stood from her kneeled position; dragging the knife up the second man's stomach as she stood. She held the man's shocked gaze as he choked on his surprise. The wet heat of his spilling blood soaked her hand, and Miranda watched as his life faded from his eyes. When she ripped the knife out from his sliced open torso, his innards came spilling out.

Her gaze was pulled over her victim's shoulder, Dr. Silas' eyes were widened with horror as he watched her kill the last of his attack dogs. A smirk twisted the corner of Miranda's mouth as he backed himself into a wall. Stepping over the dead bodies, Miranda approached the good doctor slowly, relishing in the sight of him petrified into place. There was no where for him to run, no where for him to hide. Her smirk grew. Dr Silas was hers for the taking.

"This is madness," he gasped as she neared him. "Stop this; you don't have to do this."

Miranda only stopped when she was standing directly in front of the doctor. She tilted her head as she watched terrified tremors rack his body wave after wave. What a sudden change in his demeanor; just minutes ago he had enough arrogance to leave her alone unsupervised in a room filled with torture devices, he even permitted his men to strut around without a shred of armor. How he must've been regretting his carelessness as he pleaded with her.

"Please," he said, only to be cut off as Miranda's hand lashed out, quick as a viper's strike, and wrapped tightly around his neck. Dr Silas coughed in surprise, gasping for breath as she squeezed her fingers around his throat.

"You've been the most accommodating host, Silas," her tone was low, deadly. If he didn't have information that she desperately needed, she wouldn't have bothered wasting time by questioning him; but since he had information, they were going to play for just a little bit longer. "I'd like to show you my appreciation."

Without waiting for his cries for mercy, Miranda pulled him off of the wall and shoved him into another. Before he could bolt, she secured him by the collar and flung the door beside him open. Shoving him into the room, Miranda gave the space a quick once over as she shut the door behind her. It was a small space, a break room that Silas' men used to retreat to when torturing her had become too tiresome.

When the doctor pulled himself off of the ground and turned to face her, Miranda gestured with her knife at him as she said, "Take off your shirt."

"Wha -" he gaped at her. "What?"

"Take. Off. Your. Shirt," she repeated dangerously and watched as he slowly started to unbutton his shirt. When he balled it up and tossed it at her feet, Miranda picked up the old-fashioned handcuffs and tossed them to the doctor. He caught them and held them nervously in his grasp. "Cuff your hands behind your back."

"I -"

"Do it." He nodded frantically at the sound of her growl and awkwardly cuffed his hands behind his back. Silas stared at her, waiting for her next instructions. Pointing at the chair behind him, she ordered, "Take a seat, Doctor. You must be tired."

Miranda approached him when he was seated and walked a slow circle around him as she inspected his cuffs. Satisfied that he wouldn't be able to break loose, she casually found her way in front of him again. Standing before the terrified man, Miranda ran her filthy fingers through his short hair before fisting a tuft of hair and ripping his head back. "Where's your fight, Doctor?"

Smiling to herself Miranda stood back up and stated, "I'm going to ask you some questions, and you are going to answer them honestly. If you don't..." she played with the knife in her grasp and shrugged. "Well, you're a smart man; I'm sure you can figure it out."

She pressed the tip of her knife against his bare chest, watching as the skin broke under the slightest amount of pressure. Silas hissed as the blade nicked him, a tear of blood rolling down his chest as he heaved for breath. "Where's my father?"

Silas shook his head, and Miranda carefully dragged the blade down, cutting his skin in a surgical manner. She didn't want him to bleed out just yet after all. Unable to stand against the pain, he cried out. "Horizon!"

A pleased smile curled her lips. This was going to be easier than she expected. Scientists, they had no threshold for pain. "What's on Horizon?"

"Sanctuary!" Blood spilled from his cut skin as he breathed, flowing out of him in streams. "Sanctuary is on Horizon. He has a science facility there."

Miranda tilted her head curiously. That was interesting, Sanctuary was a refugee base against the Reapers. If her father had a science facility there and was studying Reaper technology... She made another surgical cut along Dr Silas' chest and ignored the man's screams for her to stop. "What's he studying?"

"He wants to know more about the Reapers, how they operate!" he answered desperately.

She grit her teeth, divided between pursuing her curiosity or her purpose. After a second she decided to stick to the plan. "Does he have my sister?"

The doctor nodded. "Yes," he said with a breathy exhale.

"Thank you doctor," Miranda said before she stabbed the knife into Silas' chest, burying it deeply between the bones until it pierced his heart and stabbed the muscle with each dying beat. "You've been most cooperative."

When the man slumped lifelessly forward, Miranda turned around and left. She strode to the door on the opposite end of her interrogation room and flinched away from the blinding sunlight. She had no idea where she was or how far she was from civilization; but she would figure it out. Her sister was on Horizon, and she was going to get her.

She climbed into the shuttle parked in front of the small facility and flipped on all of the controls. Her hands were shaking as she punched in the coordinates to the nearest planet. Training for torture and experiencing it were two very different things. Her resolve might have kept her alive, but the shock of her experience was starting to kick in.

Miranda cleared her throat as she navigated the shuttle. She was going to save her sister, but first she was going to get herself cleaned off. Barging into Sanctuary wasn't going to be an option; she needed to be prepared, and she needed time to do that. Miranda set course for her apartment. There was no better cure for days of torture like a nice hot shower and a glass of wine; and there was a bottle back home with her name on it.

-X-

'_120'... '121'... '122'... _

James could barely feel his arms, but that didn't stop him from doing the pull ups. He was tense, anxious and a little bit more aggressive than usual. There were several reasons why he was acting the way he was; first, the mission to Thessia was a complete disaster.

After Shepard returned with the Doc and Alenko from the devastated planet, they were gathered in the war room for a debriefing. What he heard made him furious; Cerberus interfered again and the worst part was that they succeeded. The bastards took the Prothean VI and with it the chance to find out what the Catalyst was so they could finally finish the Crucible. So he suggested to hit Cerberus where it hurt them most, and he was glad when Shepard agreed with him.

Second, he still hadn't heard from Miranda yet. He counted the days since he'd last heard from her, and when he spoke the number out loud he felt the pit in his stomach grow some more. The part of his mind that had earlier told him she was safe was completely gone; now all he could hear was the part that told him she was trapped somewhere injured, or even worse, dead. He shook his head and instead focused on counting his pull ups.

'_126'... '127'... Damn it Miranda… '128'... Where the hell are you?… '129'_

His mind kept torturing him with the same questions over and over, until he could feel the strength leaving his arms. He loosened his grip on the pole and his feet touched the floor, his tense muscles burning from the intense exercise and grateful that he finally relieved them of their pain. He took the nearby towel and wiped the sweat from his torso and face before slumping down on the makeshift cot. He watched Cortez as he worked on the kodiak and he allowed his mind to crush him under the weight of his worry.

He knew Cortez could see the change in James' posture, he even joked that a girl was the reason for his anxiety and anger. _No, _James corrected to himself, _not a girl, a woman. _He closed his eyes and hung his head enough to stretch the tense back muscles. He sighed in relief as the tension left him, grateful that it also stopped the start of a headache, but it wasn't enough to stop him from thinking about Miranda.

He remembered the times they'd spent together, remembered the taste of the wine that made her so relaxed, so comfortable around him that she'd even smiled, proving to him that her inner beauty could compete with her outer beauty. The memory of her laugh made him smile warily. He remembered the night they slept together, and James found himself wanting to repeat that encounter more and more. It wasn't just the primal need he felt when he thought about her; he felt a much deeper attraction towards Miranda, and not just in a sexual way. No, he was sure that he cared for her, much more than he was willing to admit.

That thought frightened him a little; _What if she doesn't feel the same way? _he thought as he dragged a hand down his face. James knew when he was leaving an impact on a regular woman; but Miranda wasn't a regular woman. She was so much more than that, and impossible to read with no way for him to know if whether or not he was leaving an impression.

As much as it annoyed him, this infinite and unknowing chase, he had to admit that it also spurred him on. At first he'd only wanted to prove himself that not even a woman like Miranda could resist his charms, without realizing how much he already fell for her. He kept telling himself that what he felt for her was strictly sexual; but now the evidence to the contrary was irrefutable. Every moment that passed without him knowing where she was his chest would start to hurt, heavy with worry for her wellbeing.

He knew what he wanted to do if they ever did see each other again. He wanted another date. A real one this time. He wanted to take her out to a nice restaurant where candles burned on the center of the table, and romantic music playing in background. He wanted to give her a night to remember and a night to forget everything that was going on around them. He wanted them to be a normal couple going out, nothing more and nothing less; and afterwards, he wanted to hear her moan underneath him again and whisper his name.

James didn't even realize his omni-tool was buzzing until it was almost too late. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts from Miranda, he went to answer the call only for his heart to jump up into his throat. He blinked several times to make sure he wasn't dreaming. Rubbing his fingers into his eyes, when he looked back down at his omni-tool he was certain that the name on the screen was Miranda Lawson. James jumped up from the cot and started to pace a small line up and down as he ran a hand through his hair. Letting out a long breath he willed his hand to accept the call. Once her face appeared on the screen, his heartbeat increased even more.

"Miranda," he said, not even bothering to hide the worry from his voice. He stopped pacing and tried to focus on her, "Miranda, what- where…"

She smiled warmly at him before saying, _"James, I'm sorry for taking so long to answer your calls and messages. I was… distracted."_

He narrowed his eyes as he took a better look at her. Anger started to bubble inside him, his blood boiling as he noticed how pale her skin was, the dark circles under her eyes. The right side of her lower lip was split and there was a long bruise that marred the length of her left cheek bone. Her eyebrow was a bit swollen and split as well. Red rimmed his vision as James breathed heavily to control his growing anger. "What the hell happened? Who did this to you?"

Miranda kept smiling as if the things that happened to her didn't matter and weren't important. "_I'm fine, I just ran into some resistance searching for Oriana_."

That did nothing to reassure him, and he started pacing up and down again. "Resistance?" he asked. Her face looked like she'd run into a lot more than just resistance. "Miranda, tell me who did this to you and-"

"_James,_" her tone was low and threatening. He stopped dead in his tracks and gave her a defiant look, too stubborn to drop the subject that easily. She spoke up before he could say anything, _"I'm fine, please. Just… let's drop the matter and talk."_

James grit his teeth, his anger not allowing him to hear the pleading tone of her voice. "Miranda, **who** did this? I swear I'm going to find him and-"

"_If you don't want to talk to me; fine!"_

Suddenly, James was very aware of the distressed tone of her voice, how tired she truely looked. If he didn't stop pursuing this she would disconnect the call. "Wait! Miranda, wait. Please…" Her eyes found his on the screen and he could feel his heart skip a beat at the intensity of them. "I'm sorry, it's just-"

"_I'm fine," _her voice was soft and she sounded as exhausted as she looked. _"I had to kill a few mercs. Things got a little messy but I took care of it. I'm okay, so please... let's just talk about something else." _She gave him another warm smile and crossed her hands on the surface before her. _"How are you?"_

James took a deep breath as he sat down on the cot. Something was definitely up. Miranda never smiled at him like that, at least not while she was sober, and definitely not this often. Sighing, he decided to do as she asked and drop the subject for now. Letting a small smile twitch briefly at the corners of his mouth, he replied, "I'm fine. Worried and exhausted, but fine."

She nodded curtly before saying, _"Well, detail's, James. It's been a while, I'm sure you have a lot to share with me," _a teasing smile curled her lips.

James let out a laugh as he ran a hand through his hair, "Yeah, yeah, a lot has happened. Mostly bad stuff though." Later he'd bring up how unfair it was that she wanted him to unload on her when she wouldn't do the same for him. After the days he had spent worrying, she couldn't honestly expect him to just drop the subject.

Her smile vanished and a frown replaced it, _"What happened?"_

A heavy sigh escaped him and he let the silence stretch between them for a little before he found the words to answer her. "Shepard, Liara and Alenko went to Thessia to retrieve some Prothean VI which would help us understand what the Catalyst is. Just when Shepard was about to take it, Kai Leng appeared and took the VI."

Her brows furrowed together in annoyance, _"Leng took the VI?"_

"Yeah, now we're heading to kick Cerberus' ass. I mean, we have to, right? Everything depends on us." His voice trailed off as he spoke. He didn't tear away his gaze from her though, he noticed the sympathetic look she sent him and somehow, that look warmed his heart.

"_I'm sorry," _she said, obviously not knowing what else to say. _"It must've been hard for you."_

James locked his gaze with hers and swallowed hard at the amount of exhaustion and sadness he found there. He took a deep, silent breath through his nose as he decided to ask what was on his mind. "Miranda," he paused, giving himself a little more time to gather the necessary courage. "Did you find your sister?"

Miranda's features fell and it seemed to James the question exhausted her even more, _"Yes," _she answered, averting her gaze to her hands.

"And? Is she safe?"

She lifted her gaze and locked it with his, _"No, but she will be."_

"Miranda... if you need help-"

"_James, I'm fine," _the tight pinch to her voice proved him otherwise. Whatever she had experienced in the few days they hadn't spoken, it must have been jarring. Miranda was typically much more conserved than this.

He took another deep breath and decided to speak what was really on his heart, "Miranda I - I missed you."

"_James-"_

"I thought something happened to you, that you were dead." He watched her expression change with his admission. Miranda's brows furrowed with a thoughtful expression that almost looked concerned as she visibly wrestled with her emotions. Even though he knew she wouldn't just tell him what it was she was feeling, James was dying to know what was going on in that beautiful head of hers. She shifted in her seat and opened her mouth to speak, but he was faster, "And don't tell me you're fine because I'm not stupid; I can see that you're in pain and I won't even ask where you are because you probably won't tell me."

The smirk that coiled the corner of her mouth was grateful. _"Thank you," _she simply said.

A moment of silence passed between them. There was so much James wanted to tell her, but now that he watched her appearance on the screen, he wasn't so sure if he should. How was it that she always rendered him speechless or made him forget the stresses of the crumbling galaxy around them?

He feared he knew the reason, but dismissed it quickly with a shake of his head. Still, the insecure and nervous feeling remained; _am I sweating, _he thought as he shifted his feet. He inspected her bruised features and gritted his teeth against his anger that threatened to resurface. Someone had dared to hurt her. They'd marked her with bruises and for that James would make them pay. Sooner or later he'd find out who had given her that busted lip, and he was going to go on a hunt. Hurting Miranda was a crime punishable by death.

James bit back his anger and forced himself to refocus on their conversation. "Miranda," she lifted her eyes to meet his gaze. A small smile was plastered on her face as she awaited his question. Offering her a warm smile of his own, he said, "Everything is going to be fine. You'll see."

To the doubtful expression she gave him, he added, "You'll save your sister, and you'll be fine. And we're going to have that third date you promised."

She raised an eyebrow in question but couldn't hide the small smile that lit up her bruised face. _"I don't remember promising such a thing."_

James rolled his eyes playfully as a smirk unearthed on his face, "You can't even remember what you said after one glass of wine. I told you the wine makes you fuzzy."

"_Wine does _not_ make me fuzzy,"_ she tried to sound annoyed, but the attempt failed as a brighter smile lit up her face. _"You were the fuzzy one, Mr. 'I'm more of a whisky drinker' and you only drank one glass."_

"Ha! I wouldn't make much of a marine if I couldn't drink my own weight." To the challenging purse of her lips, he argued, "I'm the great Commander Shepard's lieutenant. Do you have any idea how hard that woman can drink?"

"_I do_," her smile brightened as she reminded him, "_I was her XO for a time. Shepard started this drinking game; every time Kasumi said Jacob's name, or mentioned his body we had to take a shot._" When James' grin grew so did hers. "_There was also one for each time that Garrus mentioned calibrations_."

"Cala-_bro-_tions!" James said with a laugh. "That game lives on! Since you've already drank with the best of them, try next time to outdrink me, you'll be surprised." he let his confidence reflect in his voice. He didn't know what he said, but her expression fell and her smile disappeared from her face as she lowered her gaze to her hands. He watched her, his own smile disappearing in the process. He didn't have to be next to her to feel that something was eating her.

Miranda couldn't look him in the eye anymore. There was a tick in her jaw as she ground her teeth, her gaze still on her fingers off of the screen. He could tell that there was something bothering her, that there was something she wanted to say, but something was holding her back. Even though he wanted nothing more than for her to open up and tell him what was on her mind, James knew that she couldn't be pressured. Miranda was a tough nut to crack, and she'd tell him what was up when she was good and ready; not a moment sooner.

"_We'll have that third date,"_ she whispered the words and bit her lip as if to keep herself from taking them back.

James blinked twice, not registering what she'd just said and mistaking it for his own wishful thinking. Her gaze was on his mouth and he could only guess what she was thinking about right now, her expression didn't give anything away.

Miranda released her lip from between her teeth and smiled. _"As soon as we get some free time we'll have that date."_

"I'm glad," James admitted, not caring if he would push her away with his honesty. "Because I would really like to get to know you, Miranda. As a person, away from all this," he could see the smile on her lips stretching a little, her eyes still locked on his lips and he dared to insert, "All of you."

"_Me too, James,"_ he knew he never looked more shocked in his entire life. His mind replayed her words again and again, his heart beating rapidly against his rib cage. _She wants to get to know me too, _he thought and had to suppress the urge to start jumping up and down in glee.

Glancing off screen, her expression shifted and she straightened her posture with purpose. She let out a long, shaky breath and said, _"I- I have some business to take care off."_

He'd almost forgotten his worry, as surprising as it was. The concern he had felt before, during her absence, it had been all consuming and it was back as good as new. James knew Miranda well enough to recognize that determined set to her paled features. She was bruised and cut up, and ready for a fight but where and with whom, he hadn't the slightest idea. He wouldn't even bother asking; she'd never tell him anyway. Though there was one thing he could ask of her. "Promise me you'll stay safe," he demanded, even though his voice was unusually soft.

"_I will. Promise."_

She said the words and still James wasn't convinced. Before he could beg her to stay, she said, _"There's this lovely restaurant on Illium that serves the best calamari I've ever tasted in my entire life."_

James offered her a warm smile and promised, "I'll make us reservations. As soon as I get back from this mission, I'll take you there."

"_Goodbye, James."_ The screen blackened as she disconnected the call.

He stared at his omni-tool, his heart in his stomach as he returned his hand to his side. Something about that goodbye sounded so final. Days of unrequited worry returned to him all at once. James _would_ have that third date, and he was willing to go to hell and back to make sure of it.


End file.
